Schism
by Trio Dackswell
Summary: We became shattered in it... Green Heart 2
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own such and such, which is a recurring theme among fan fictions barring originality placed dude.

Author Note: This is following the events of 'Home' and Donnie's past becomes readily apparent dude.

Author Note Extra: This is not some of my best work, so I consider this scrappily written dude.

References made so far from the previous story: Sonic the hedgehog(In passing and in this episode as well), Bucky o' hare (hard to see, but the OC Terra Ground is a glaring one and Mimi is mentioned), Animaniac's (Rita and Runt specifically), Bolt(Movie with the super dog and his hamster and cat companions and where the last episode took place), Pound Puppies (the Bone of Scone), Starfox (Miyu the humanoid lynx), Earthworm Jim(Planet Heck, is a real place in Dimension X) and of course Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(Unknown history with the four turtles, plus dimension X which is literally considered hell by Bird) dude.(What doesn't count is where a song came from dude)

Second in the Green Hearts series.

Story: Schism.

A pair unlike any other entered San Francisco on foot, leaving behind a large figure that shot off into the sky leaving behind the pair as they made their way to the city.

"Are you sure you wanted to come to San Fran Bird, I'm not very well liked here and whatever you're looking for you better find it fast because I might cause quite a stir and this time it'll be without me trying anything at all… not that I wouldn't mind stirring something up if you asked me to" The dog known as Donnie who wore a purple cloak, spiked collar and simple black vest, she followed a strange large green, dark orange and hot pink feathered bird named Bird who had no sign of apparent emotion on her face, she just turned to stare blankly at her companion before walking on without a word.

After traveling around the streets for hours they finally stopped outside an animal specific café, having avoided the sight of humans since that would have caused problems for them, Donnie was less likely to cause problems because she was mostly normal around here but the bird, yeah she was clearly more noticeable.

"You know maybe it's better I stay out here until you've taken care of whatever business you have, I'm not very well liked here and if I show up I'm certainly to be accused of dirty dealings" Bird set a wing on Donnie's back and stood there for a moment.

"Alright, but if anything bad happens to you I'll never forgive myself and I still don't for what previously happened to you even if I wasn't there to prevent it, I'll get you back to normal someday I swear if it's the next to last thing I ever do" Donnie just got a nod in response as Bird walked into the café made by dogs for dogs.

Donnie became sheepish and stayed behind Bird her nasty personality would probably rear its ugly head if anyone so much as insulted Bird in front of her, she however wouldn't mind the insults towards her as they were usually complimentary to her nature.

There were tables and dogs everywhere, however Bird made a beeline straight for the bar, information was key and nobody was more informative then a bar keeper.

"Well I heard about cats dragging things in, but look what a bird just dragged in… what are you doing here Belladonna I thought you moved your operations to Los Angeles and if your back what happened to Charlie" And thus the reason why Donnie didn't want to come to San Fran, as the dog she knew to be Sasha was already glaring at her and getting angry however Bird stared at her for a moment and motioned Donnie over to take a seat next to where she sat down.

"I've done nothing to Chucky and he should be back in your lap before too long, also you got nothing to worry about from me, no plans, no scheming and any violence from me will be either in self defense or protecting her, despite what you may think I am only here as a customer if that is in fact why she dragged me here, hard to tell what she's thinking sometimes when she's not emotionally driven" Donnie or Belladonna was talking in a rather scathing distaste of Sasha as she kept a watchful eye on her, she wasn't evil she was just dark and people didn't seem to be able to differentiate between the two, Bird however was one of the few that could and she's currently messed up in more ways than one.

"Alright but what does your friend want and how can she be so calm when she is surrounded by dogs, in fact something seems highly suspect about this and what's her name" Bird continued to look around blankly before finally she placed a wing on Belladonna whose voice went straight calm as she spoke in a flat tone.

"My name is Bird and I'm talking through her, tell me have you seen a heart shaped necklace around here…" at this Belladonna's eyes go stark wide as she remembered something important, Bird looked to Belladonna and she whimpered a bit as she put her head down on the bar and covered her muzzle with her paws.

Sasha the point setter just looked at Belladonna as if something bizarre was taking place she'd never seen Belladonna act scared, she usually was full of herself and was usually up to something, the biggest thing she ever did was that hullaballoo at Christmas where Annabelle… wait that's where she's seen a heart shaped necklace before.

"I know who has it Bird, but there's something you got to know… you weren't the only one who had been messed up in that incident" Bird stared blankly at the one she called Donnie who gave a sigh after Bird placed a wing on her back again.

"If you truly want to know well you're going to find out, but the story is a long one and my… cousin… will need to be here if it's going to be explained in full I still don't see what you would want to do with that necklace anyway, even if it does belong to me…" Belladonna looked away moping slightly, while Sasha balked she didn't know what was going on but she was going to get to the bottom of this.

"What do you mean that necklace belongs to you and what is with the freaky bird, this isn't how you typically act and what does this have to do with Annabelle?" Sasha received a dour look from Belladonna.

"Well no duh princess who has a lazy prince charming in a suit of fur to her every beck and call except on business excursions… oh so that's why we're looking for it, well at least I know it's been protecting her even if she's all queen of clouds and being a whiny wimpy angel with powers over ice and stuff but I don't see why I'd need it back I'd rather she keep it… she's be safer that way… you obviously don't know what I'm talking about do you, it has to do with my…. cousin… the shy, pathetic needs some love cousin Annabelle, surprisingly I'm the only person she'll actually do something about… she has her reasons for that which will be explained when the party is all here" The conversation was quickly becoming confusing with Belladonna putting down both Sasha and Annabelle but the tone of her voice was rather too remorseful to actually sound insulting.

"What's with you, have you gone crazy" Sasha got a straight face or as much a straight face as the whippet could muster under these circumstances.

"Short and to the point I can hear what Bird is thinking; yes that's what you should call her, when we're in contact with each other and thus far she can speak through me because of some rather special talents that I have, she's lost her voice, her emotions, her ability to feel and just about her life, but I'm going to help her get back to normal I don't know if I ever could return to normal given you don't know why I am like this, sure you got Carface's story, but you've never heard mine and boy is it going to make you flip when you hear it" Belladonna smiled sweetly at Sasha who looked rather disturbed by the whippets weird friend and she didn't think Belladonna had real friends.

"I think Donnie has something to explain to me, I wish to attain this bit of knowledge, but it is important that we find that necklace and your cousin if she in fact has it… I believe there is more to it but I'll leave that up to you to decide what to tell me" Belladonna looked to bird after she said that and whined slightly sure the tone Bird used her voice in was dead flat, but every time she did that it made Belladonna miss Birds own voice all the more and it would be the first thing she'd restore if she could figure out how.

"I want to know about this too, what exactly is your story and why would you help anybody, if anything you probably did this to Bird" Belladonna slammed her left paw on the table causing every other dog there to stop talking and stare at the purple furred whippet now holding a large blue fireball in the owners face with her right paw.

Slowly the fireball dissipated as the paw was slowly clenched and Belladonna calmed down, she sat back down and looked to Bird who still had her wing sitting where it had been on Belladonna's back.

"You're logic is astoundingly great for what she just suggested and I would respectfully ask you to remove your wing from my back and let me… fine" She sat down and became quiet looking away from Sasha and Bird obviously still harboring anger but not acting on it.

Sasha just sat there seeing her life flash before her eyes and she finally blinked as she wondered what just happened.

"Did you just…" Sasha blankly states still too stunned to talk after having almost eaten a fireball and that was only thing that she could truly think about at the moment.

"Form a fireball in her paws" Sasha looked to Bird but the voice was coming from Belladonna this was going to take some getting used to and all her patrons looked spooked and weren't moving.

"Bird?" Sasha tested.

"Yes?" Bird was looking at her and she stared at the hollow eyes, it was rather creepy but she pressed on taking note that Belladonna wasn't being so uppity or excitable, but she was the one that spoke.

"Did she do this to you or put you up to this?" Sasha asked innocently enough, she was confused as to why Bird didn't seem all too expressive and the fact that she had to talk through Belladonna was just creepy.

Bird just continued to stare blankly at her and shook her head negative to the question, Belladonna sat there not rising in anger or anything and that perplexed Sasha from what she thought she knew of her, the tricky dog not having any tricks up her sleeve was just bizarre as the look of sadness crossing Belladonna's face.

"From what I know of you Belladonna you don't usually get that aggressive, you only did that during last Christmas even then you weren't aiming to physically harm anyone directly, what changed" Sasha sounded sincerely worried about this, Belladonna was very dangerous to deal with and usually she would be busy trying to corrupt someone, otherwise she was a powerful being that could even sway her Charlie's mind.

"Well you could say I'm not as restrained as I used to be and I've got to get miss prissy wings down here somehow, if anything I could just follow chucky around until my cousin shows up as I doubt she's going to make an appearance just because I'm threatening you; I think she's jealous enough to not want to help you but that's just me, she never makes a personal appearance unless something drastic happens and given that she hasn't shown up already she'd avoiding me and the truth, but the Mittens is going to come out of the bag soon and she can't do anything about it" Everyone there was rather interested and looking to Belladonna like she was the most scariest thing there, when in fact Bird was probably far more frightening then she was in natural ability alone, however at the moment Belladonna was the more supernaturally powerful of the two, also her in reference was lost on anyone but Bird.

"So we are to wait then Donnie?" As the words came from her mouth Belladonna was already nodding.

"Yeah and while we're waiting I have some old haunts to visit if you don't mind, we might find something useful to help us out still in those places" Bird nodded to Belladonna who turned Sasha.

"Sasha should you see Chucky and Scratch tell them we need to speak to miss head in the clouds about the thing that tore us apart, she'll know what it means, also tell the guys I'm sorry about it being too soon, since I know what we're looking for can we get going as it'll all come together when the story is told" Bird nodded blankly and followed Belladonna out of the bar having successfully found out where the necklace was.

Bird wasn't aware of whom this Annabelle was but she had a clue as to what it had to do with Donnie as she knew for a fact Donnie had no living relatives and a cousin just can't come from nowhere, also there was the fact that she had been called Belladonna, but her full name was...

Elsewhere in a bright and cloudy place.

"Oh my, she's… she's back and my… cousin… is with her, but she's not opposing me anymore so I should feel grateful for Birds return, but I fear of what will come of my dark secret, I wonder if he'll hate me for it when he finds out I haven't been entirely truthful with him… oh the world is so different then what it used to be I really don't want to go down there… but I guess… I have too, but now I wonder if Bird will ever forgive me for not being there" The figure was wearing robes and toggled at a necklace she always had on her, she was shivering slightly feeling a cold chill down her spine.

What did her cousin mean by protected and that she was safer having it, the only thing she ever used it for was handing out and storing miracles… unless there was something else about it that she wasn't aware of.

Did her cousin still think of her, she never once mentioned the necklace despite the fact it meant a lot to the both of them, she never bothered to question it, she thought that her… cousin… was irredeemable, had she been so wrong?

Both Bird and Donnie had been to quite a few places, none of them had anything of real use though and they were left sitting together on a hillside looking at the golden gate bridge and the clouds in the sky quietly contemplating things to come.

"Sorry, but I was hoping we'd find something of worth at least I still have the bone of scone for all the good it can do me as I can already talk to everything" Belladonna started gnawing on said bone and it was her favorite one as well, it just happened to be a special artifact of dog and cat kind that might have caused multilingual problems in quite a few animals in a few rather secluded areas of the world.

"So, this is where you got to… Belladonna" A dark voice said from behind the two, Donnie was instantly on edge as she turned around and Bird just titled her head to look at the large red humanoid cat figure behind them.

"It's about time they sent someone capture me and it so happens to be you Mr. Kitty, you know how this works… or you should given they sent you to pick me up and bring me back down… you have three chances don't go wasting them now…" Donnie was being all too haughty for the cat demons taste, as she smiled cheekily at him.

"My name is Red you insufferable dog, I still don't know how you've ever managed to hold a higher position then me for so long but soon I'm getting a promotion and it'll be over your dead body and I just might add necrophilia to my list, just… for… you!" Red smiled viciously at the thought of what he could do with her when he brought her back down.

"Oh you hear that Bird, he thinks he has a chance… in hell maybe… well since we've got the time how about I cut you a deal Kitty… and you drop two of your chances and we use the last chance for a reapers fight so we can get this all over with and you'll never bother me or anyone I'm associated with again" Donnie yawned lazily putting her paws behind her head as she laid on her back closing her eyes while ignoring the big red angry demon cat staring down at her.

"Go on" Red was thoroughly intrigued by the mention of a reapers fight, but he was also interested in what could be worth two attempts at the bane of his existence as this particular dog outdid him so often it wasn't even funny, it was not only that, the pooch has screwed him over so much he was beginning to see himself from time to time and he seriously wanted to attack now and waste his first attempt should he fail but he liked games and he was willing to play all or nothing especially if it's a worthwhile venture.

"Bird to tell you now I had a job as a dark angel and it was fun for quite a while but since I recently quit and you obviously been to a comparative hell before you should be aware what this entails, then you should throw in something to use up one of his chances if you want, but if you don't I have my own ideas" Bird blankly stared at Donnie before placing a wing on her stomach.

"I will throw myself in with… BELLADONNA… should you catch her in place of one of your chances" Red stared at Belladonna being used as a puppet and had to smile it was rather amusing but he had to wonder why a bird would be worth his time, but then again it was big and juicy looking so why not he could use a rather exotic looking snack, too bad he didn't know what this bird was or that she was worth all three chances entirely plus more.

"I accept that you will be taken with Belladonna in exchange for one of my chances at her and should I get her I will get you as well, now what can you possibly think of that I would want bad enough to lose one of two chances at the mutt that has caused me so much trouble" Red asked scathingly.

"A stacked deck in a fair fight…" Donnie tested lazily while opening on eye to look at him, causing Red to look at her with a rather intense gaze.

"You can't be serious; stacking a fight against yourself especially in a reapers fight is foolhardy but I'm intrigued by what rules are to be set under these conditions" Red was grinning wickedly.

"I let you have one hundred units, ninety nine imps of any type armed in any way and a general or yourself" This was Donnie's opening bid and she was waiting for him to say it wasn't high enough, he liked things thoroughly stacked and that's what she counted on.

"I don't buy that, you have a plan for dealing with that many imps I will need more stacking before I call it worth a chance at you pathetic hide" Red eyes were focused thoroughly on Donnie, Bird just stared blankly at Red before looking back at the sky.

"Okay, if you throw in that crystal I've always wanted I'll add another hundred that's one ninety eight in armed or not imps and two generals or yourself and a general" Donnie was rather calm about the odds being set to one to one hundred.

Red considered the offer for a moment it seemed good but he had to wonder what Belladonna was hiding from him, there was no way she could take down that many imps without her powers right. Still though she was the one that suggested a reapers fight, there can be no unfair play about it when the rules are set and she probably planned this ahead of time, but didn't know it was him that she was planning against… she couldn't possibly win against that number and it was ludicrous to even think a normal dog could fight that many… but the crystal… he still didn't know why she wanted such a baseless and pointless trinket, he found nothing of importance and yet she continued to try and deal it away from him so often… maybe she was blind in her quest for such a paltry thing that she didn't know what she had just done, so in other words this isn't as well planned out as he thinks.

The red; yellow eyed, cat demon continued considering this while Donnie was silently communicating with Bird who still had a wing on Donnie's body, Donnie was explaining a few things but not much and continued to implore Bird that she would tell her everything "In due time", the most insistent thing on Birds logical mind was the name Belladonna and that made Donnie nearly give in to Bird's questioning but she held fast.

"I agree to your terms another chance is removed, now all we need is a place to set the fight and under what conditions the fight will proceed" Red was curious as Donnie could choose any number of places she's been to that might give her an edge.

"How about the one place where both our biggest plans failed, I choose the spectators and my team will let you set the ground rules for what we can and can't do, as well as the time it's to take place, the judge is always fair in a reapers fight no exception, I will call on the people to watch the battle for the rules set" Bird blankly stared at Donnie when she said that but it was unknown why, Bird moved her wing away from Donnie as her mind or what was left of it went to work with the facts at hand.

"Something is odd about this, as fair play is not your usual operandi mutt, but I like to think the outcome is one sided in my favor, so in fact I'll have the rules for the battle when we meet so the spectators whoever you're choosing to watch you beg for your miserable life will know you are the one who chose to let them watch you die… we will settle this in an hour, so you get your spectators as I have no need of any, I will now choose my general and I'll see you on the field of battle bitch" With that Red explodes into a plume of black fire disappearing from sight, Donnie or as some should say Belladonna smirked at that as she knew something Red didn't and there was a reason why she needed certain spectators, she needed people she could trust with her life and a very special person to be there because after this is all over she may very well kill herself even if she does win.

Bird placed a wing on Donnie and she looked at her with a smile before she explained the plan, the backup plan and the extra plan if her initial attack didn't handle everything and she already had a clue as to what rules Red would set and being that Red doesn't know the first thing about her outside what she did on the job he was going to make some big mistakes.

Elsewhere a mere fifty two minutes later a point setter was already talking to two dogs about having a recent run in with probably one of the world's most well known dark misfortune dealers of dog kind.

"And it was so strange that she threatened me violently with what looked like a blue fireball only to be stopped by the bird, in fact she was acting kind of funny around her… the fact that she was angry about being suggested of wrong doing when in context to the bird it was a rather freaky experience considering she is usually the one that tries to corrupt people" Sasha was spooked that Belladonna might actually kill her now, especially with the fact that she said she wasn't restrained and she still didn't know what Belladonna meant but it didn't sound good.

"You think that's strange you should hear what she did in Los Angeles, she went totally nuts with singing and dancing, the fact is she was even signing about having been blue and everything getting better for her and something about resting her wiles…" The dog was a germen shepherd with some coyote like features, his name was Charlie a dog known for being a hustler.

"Let's not forget the entire 'Party Party' thing… what was she celebrating exactly… this can only mean trouble Charlie we got to tell Annabelle" the smaller dog was a Dachshund with a red hat and a sleeveless green shirt whose name was ironic because he was always Itchy, a dog that's friendly, kind and a clean freak to boot.

"I think that's what she wants you to do because when she came in here she made mention of Annabelle and her necklace or I think that was Bird, but anyway they want it from Annabelle so I don't think it's a good idea… " Sasha stopped talking and Itchy looked to be taking it thoughtfully whereas Charlie was more or less taking it without thought, as expected from the dynamics of this duo, one cares too hard and the other is careless, but that didn't mean they cared in their own way or else she and Charlie wouldn't be together.

"Maybe Annabelle already knows and that's why she hasn't called on us since we got back, I could use a little relaxation" Charlie said with a yawn and Itchy got an indignant look on his face.

"Charlie, we can't just leave this alone remember what happened last time Belladonna had a plan… we've never actually seen her get so excited about anything, this could be a big problem" In the background Sasha mentally agreed with Itchy knowing something was up, she hardly ever got involved in the guardian angel business but she would like to later on.

"Don't worry Itch, Belladonna has either gone insane or just doesn't want to corrupt anyone anymore, why else would she say she quit… though I don't know what that had to do with her back exploding like it did…" Suddenly Charlie stopped talking as a strange black cloaked figure with dark glowing grey eyes floated into the area and it had a scythe across its back, Charlie, Sasha and Itchy all just looked at it feeling very cold all of the sudden, the thing reeked of death and was instilling fear by its very presence.

Its gaze swept the area and then stopped at the three dogs at the bar and floated over to them, Charlie tensed up ready to protect Itchy and Sasha should it come to it, but how he would do it even he didn't know especially considering time seemed to be frozen.

However it just raised an empty cloak sleeve and with a wave of it, the world warped and the three dogs disappeared with the cloaked figure the area was instantly silent nothing was left, the dogs that were left didn't know what happened but they all called it a day and closed down Sasha's for her hoping the owner would be back safely, they were all good dogs here.

Soon the world for the three dogs and the cloaked figure came into focus for Charlie, Sasha and Itchy as they all appeared at a location they knew very well but wish they didn't as they were brought here against their will for who knows whatever reason and the cloaked figure just left them sitting there on the high ground as it floated down to the floor below, leaving them alone with a pink furred winged whippet that had her hair in a similar ponytail to Belladonna's sitting next to them already and it was the first thing they noticed.

"Annabelle… what's going on" Annabelle froze when she heard Charlie's voice and looked at him away from the floor with a frown.

"Something terrible Charles... you have been called to watch a reapers fight and I wish you and the others weren't here, but it can't be helped as we must be witness to it" To Charlie, Annabelle didn't seem to particularly happy at this moment and in fact looked entirely worried, looking down to the main floor below he saw a strange large bird at Belladonna's side with a empty look on her face, Belladonna herself looked incredibly determined and was silent, no smirk to be found, she seemed so serious now unlike his previous encounters with the dangerous dog who had made him see the consequences of his actions on more than one occasion, what was weird was that Donnie was wearing a purple cloak which she pulled off along with her vest and her spiked collar, the stuff he'd almost never seen Belladonna without.

The bird taking her things leapt up to them and deposited the items on the ground carefully before dropping down to Belladonna's side without a word or sound.

Moving his head slightly to the right after the bird came up and dropped off Belladonna's stuff he saw the floating figure whose gray eyes stared at nothing and nothing else was visible under that tattered floating cloak except a sea of writhing shadow and staring at it sent shivers down his spine.

Moving his head to the right having spotting a blotch of red suddenly appearing in his vision, it was Red the cat in his large muscular form like when Charlie faced him while holding Gabriel's horn and this place was the same place that both Belladonna and Red had failed in a major plot before, this place was on Alcatraz Island and he didn't like being back here not after the previous few times he's been to this place which was a prison that spawns its own unique darkness.

"What's a reapers fight, Annabelle what's going on" Sasha seemed to be slightly worried for Belladonna as she was facing a being she found to be more frightening then the dog that kept trying to corrupt Charlie out from under her.

"Stay quiet Ms. Le Fur and watch… that goes for you to Charles at least I don't have to tell Itchiford that as he understands that silence is golden in situations like this" Itchy looked to Annabelle wonder why she seemed so despondent and considering how things look this was going to get ugly or bleak… maybe even both considering two of their biggest foes were locking heads, Carface was smart and might have done Charlie in once but after that Carface really didn't seem to hit the level of intensity in evil like these two who did things on a far grander scale. (Sasha's 'Le Fur' name will come up again in another story dude)

"So the spectators are set then, I guess it's time to lay the rules of what we can and can't do after I've decided my team… one hundred and fifty normal imps, forty eight spirit imps, myself and a Slasher Demon…" Annabelle gasped softly getting her looks from the other three dogs on the upper floor, but Belladonna didn't raise an eye at that and Bird just stood there, if her mind was working on what they were to deal with there was no movement to give away her thoughts.

The grey eyed robed figure held out its left arm to Red, then waited.

"Very well then all of me and Bird will be all of our team" A questioning look cross Annabelle's face for a moment but she quickly schooled her emotions when Belladonna said that, the reaper raised its other arm locking the team setups for this reapers fight and all there was now was the rules and setup by Red, this it would get underway once Red got his team on his side of the field.

"You were very stupid to allow me to set the rules, first rule no projectile attacks, second rule no outside interference by the spectators…" Before Red could state anything else he was broken off by his opposition's voice.

"Counter-rule the spectators may not be attacked, harmed or otherwise involved in the fight" Belladonna stated quickly surprising Annabelle even further, not to mention Charlie, Sasha and Itchy who wondered why she cared if they were safe.

The black robed figure nodded accepting the counter-rule should Red choose to keep his rule of no outside interference and Red grit his teeth as he thought he might be able to get away with a hostage, but then again why would Belladonna want these fools here if anything and untouched? She has done nothing but screw them over a few times and they owed her nothing.

So Red couldn't understand why Belladonna insisted the counter rule, but it was a law of a reapers fight that counter rules can come into play if it was called on a rule that was made that could be made unfair in some way, in fact a counter rule could itself be unfair if one was not aware of why the counter rule was made as you can't veto it without knowing a good reason why it should be, but he knew he didn't want Charlie or even that sweet prissy angel of a cousin of Belladonna's involved, which led Red to thinking what did Belladonna know that he didn't, what was she planning to pull here?


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: see previous disclaimer dude.

"Fine you can have your counter rule… as for my third and final rule" While he was getting ready to state his next rule he saw Belladonna smile, that smile meant something and yet for the devilish life of him he couldn't figure out what that was "We will not use any powers we have acquired from the underworld" Red sounded like he was evening the playing field a bit.

The cloaked figure looked to Belladonna to see if she had anymore counter rules or any rules of her own and she sat there motionless with a bland look on her face, she expected that rule and quite frankly with what she was going to do it wouldn't matter, but it certainly would look like every rule would be broken if there wasn't several loop holes she's already exploited out of Red, but then again his no projectile attacks and using a Slasher Demon as a general would be generally what anyone would want in this situation… but she was pretty sure Bird could hold them off while she sets up her personal ace in the hole, one of which has huge consequences but it would be worth it if she could get that crystal from Red she'd go to any length even if it meant insanity and shortly after a painful death, she'd fight her way back to life for Bird if that happened she wouldn't be separated from her again but she needed that crystal, if she was right in believing what it was.

On the opposite side of the battle field a green crevasse opened up in the ground and out poured a bunch of small nasty red creatures called imps these thing usually wielded pitchforks and were quite impervious to fire and were quite strong for their size for something small and humanoid like a large rat, this was follow by less but more formidable floating skeletal versions called spirit imps as they were surrounded by a sickly green glow that was nothing like Bird's vibrant green glow when she used her energy for something.

An imp was small two feet in height at least, was red and had sharp claws, eyes glowing of a usually disturbing color and were vicious in large numbers, not something you'd want to fight more of in a close ranged affair or let drink blood in said affair.

Spirit imps were purely good at firing off deadly energy, but given that there is no projectiles in this fight it's understood why Red had them as physically hurting them without projecting energy was rather hard but not unheard of, but it was doable as long as they don't fire the energy and hold onto it while hitting the target with contact attacks but getting in close would be hard to do when they can fly, loophole being that they still could even after the rule of no underworld power.

Then the other general showed up, Donnie did not like the nasty creature as it had what passes for a torso, arms and legs, but it didn't have a neck, hands or feet and it was a solid grey mass of muscle and blood with several gleaming six foot blades stick out of its flesh where it constantly let it's putrid black blood onto the floor from where it would have had hands and feet this creature had sharp almost likely instant death and would become the most dangerous thing on the field of battle when it started, since the no underworld powers applied to this creature it wouldn't be a able to regenerate at an accelerated rate it usually could, it would become enraged and attack everything near it and getting close to an enraged Slasher would be the last thing anyone wanted to do.

Its mouth was visibly full of jagged sharp teeth which if anyone were to get a close look at without dying those were also blades and it was slobbering its own blood on the ground, Slasher Demons were entirely lethal up close but at a range they could be made harmless, its eyes were very small yet they were under a mound of grey mottled flesh, flesh that was armored by mounds of the roundish ugly creatures thick muscles and skin with blades sticking out of random places other than its forearms and legs to make up for the lack of feet and hands, if you attacked it the wrong way you were going to be skewered without a doubt.

The best answer in this situation was to make it or let it bleed to death, but it's blood would quickly change the battlefield into a slippery place and it's unaffected by its own blood when it comes to fighting and despite looking like a hulking garish monster that shouldn't be able to move all that fast, well it was far faster than anyone would believe especially when enraged and that would kill both Bird and her if they didn't watch it then they would be back where she started from but at least Bird would be there for her that is unless the reaper actually took them before Red did.

The Slasher slowly took up its position the center of the imps with the spirit imps floating around it, while in the back the big red kitty himself stayed well away from the front from his own grotesque general.

Belladonna considered the fact that imps like to feed on blood and that they would get a mouthful in this battle and that would improve their strength as that was not a underworld ability it was a natural thing that they had that just made this battle all that much harder, but if she is able to set herself off she'd be able to tear through them rather easily all she needed was time.

Red himself was as large as he was when he previously fought Charlie last time he was here that was his true form as a giant cat demon with deadly claws, and a physical presence that would have scared other people but Donnie didn't even twitch.

"What in the world is that thing…" Charlie said disgusted and frightened by the visage of the creature standing in the middle of all those imps bleeding everywhere and the battle hadn't even started.

"That Charles is Red's most devastating weapon in this battle… Belladonna will bring it down of that I have no doubt, if Bird doesn't do it first" Sasha looked between the normal looking yet purple whippet, the large bird and the large monstrous mound of flesh and blades backed by an army, what did Annabelle know that they didn't, because it certainly looks like a hopeless battle and those things were all horrid creatures how can Belladonna be so calm in the face of such a horrible mess, in fact Bird didn't seem to be doing much more then standing in front of her looking blankly ahead.

"I think… I think, I'm going to be sick Charlie" Itchy didn't like it here but Annabelle said they couldn't leave till all this was over, why did Belladonna want them to watch this, it was bound to be a horrifying massacre and he wasn't going to be disappointed but he wish he had been.

"I think I might be sick too Itch" Charlie said as his face turned green, Annabelle who was next to him and Sasha looked carefully at Belladonna's reserved nature as if… her eyes widened, she wouldn't… would she? After a moment Annabelle gave a sour thought that she would.

"Suck it up you two and hope that Belladonna knows what she's doing, because I certainly know and I don't like the looks of this…" Charlie looked to Annabelle surprised and he blinked owlishly at her, she knew something and she wasn't telling them, what was going on? She usually gave information up rather easily without needing to be asked, well there were occasions where she wouldn't give everything away but that was harmless stuff, usually.

The thing that was obviously a reaper looked to both sides getting acknowledgement that the battle is to proceed and it drops its arms and float back, as soon as it did that Belladonna quickly leapt backwards away from the imps and the charging Slasher while Bird stood her ground and the first imp that came close enough for Bird to attack was quickly skewered by the tips of her feathers running solidly straight through the imps torso, after that Bird was a whirling dervish of motion and constant movement, impaling imps left and right with her talons and crushing a few skulls while swinging her wings, which the feathers on them had taken a metallic sheen as they cut up any imp that dared to move closed enough, the demon finally came upon her and swung it's sharp metal blade down on Bird only for them to be deflect by her wings without damage and for the hulking grey monster to be knocked back two feet by a solid blow to the center of its body with a curled wing, while the distance wasn't that great the message was clear.

Red watched from the back in earnest interest as Belladonna's feathered friend put up an enormous show of dealing with the imps and knocking his general back, that creature despite appearances was far stronger then he had imagine, but what was more worrying was what Belladonna was doing, she wasn't participating in the fight yet and she stood away from her friend who was taking on an army with a viciousness that only a demon could be capable of and with feathers that seemed to be razor sharp if the blood of the imps she spilled was any sign.

Belladonna was sitting up back against the wall and her paws were clapped together, her eyes were closed and she was chanting under slowly under her breathe, the outside world was gone to her as long as she wasn't distracted in the next few minutes then she would unleash her unmitigated version of hell on Reds forces, Bird was to hold them off on her own as she had agreed to do so before the battle started in the cold metal prison walls of Alcatraz.

"Is… is Belladonna praying!" Charlie asked astonished that Belladonna would actually do something like that at a time like this, much less even pray at all, he expected her to go into the fight or stand her ground like Bird did and he had to admit he's never actually seen the wicked dog do anything quite like this.

"No… she's about to unleash her special power … she could have very well used it on you Charles, but be glad she never did or was willing to do so" Annabelle loathed to admit it, but she knew it was probably the best course of action for this situation as Belladonna was good at fighting but that was nothing more than long range assaults and maybe one on one close up encounters, that technique would be guaranteed to wreck her depending how long it lasted.

It would instantly mean a huge drop in Reds forces and in a reapers fight this was going to be a double edge sword, of course Annabelle wasn't going to explain any of this as she didn't want Charlie or anyone else to know exactly what was taking place here, it was better for their sanity anyway.

After going back to watching the battle Annabelle gasped as Bird was covered in blood, then again none of it was her own as she been bashing away at the swarming imps, each one clambering to get a purchase to weigh down and claw her up, that or slow her down enough for the Slasher to finish her off as her speed and ruthless efficiency was so far unmatched and Red was already down sixty imps the rest were drinking the Slasher's blood continually spilling on the floor to recover from their injuries and build up strength to continue assault Bird after taking a heavy clawed kick, a bone shattering slap or body eviscerating cut.

An imp managed to land on her back before it was smashed against the floor as Bird rolled backwards dodging a rushing stab from the bladed monstrosity whose blades went straight into the floor getting its right arm stuck there, not only did this squash the imp but it also led to her maneuvering herself near one of many open cell doors throughout the prison jumped slightly twirling as she swung her wing past a single bar twice, nothing visible happened until she twisted her wing around the bar and wrenched it free setting it straight into a twirling motion to bash away two imps who were instantly dead from the metal ripping through the space their bodies once occupied.

Red never set a no weapons rule, he just said no projectiles and Bird was taking full advantage of having a large metal pole with sharp ends as she mashed and stabbed her way through the swarming imps and leapt up onto the bladed demons stuck arm while the other one clawed wildly at the air not really caring what it hit taking out some of Red's imp battalion in its apparent blind rage.

Bird ran up the arm unconsciously digging her talons in as deep as she could, before she reached near the top of the beast she leapt up bringing her makeshift double ended spear into both wings and pulling it back above her head before jamming it straight down into the creature creating a fountain of blood on impact and it reacted by stabbing at Bird with its left arm only to miss, however as it swung it's left arm outward from its right should its blades connected with bird sending her flying into a wall leaving a small impact crater with a large deep cut from her right wing and down close to her left leg.

Red had smirked victoriously wondering why Belladonna was praying or what she was praying about, but it didn't matter that mild nuisance was out of the way he's now free to take Belladonna down, maybe he would mess with her a little before torturing the bitch only to be proven wrong in that the mild nuisance was getting back up if slowly as her body seemed to not be aware of the amount of pain it was in.

Bird was calculating her slow down to mean she was damaged she gave a quick check to her body, left leg, right leg, left wing, right wing were all mobile as the energy in them was still available, however there was major damage to her chest region and she already had spirit imps and regular imps bearing down on her, while the Slasher was still trying to figure out what to do about the new pain inducing ornament sticking out of the top of its body as it thrashed around and apparently it didn't need it's brain to function or live as it was still moving if erratically.

Bird wrapped her right wing over her wound and stabbed her left wing into the floor garnering a bright green glow to shoot up from her floored wing into her body and while this was happening the spirit imps that were about to swarm her suddenly perished without reason and the imps on the ground fell back after feeling sick for getting to close to the green energy coming off of Bird as they tried to press their advantage.

Red's eyes widened as he recognized what Bird was doing and he now knew he was going to have some problems as that creature would just render his spirit imps completely useless, as he made the thirty two that were left get away from her but one more straggler fell before becoming a inanimate pile of bones, damn that creature for being able to heal off of his own incompetence for not noticing earlier what that nearly soulless creature was capable of.

"Bird is using her Glamour or else she wouldn't be able to hold them off like that, but something's wrong she should be able to put out more than that" Annabelle said from the upper floor attracting the attention of the others watching to the pink furred angel dog as Birds injury started to rapidly vanish as quickly as the spirit imps that came near her did.

"Glamour… what does beauty have to do with anything that's going on here? This is horrible and Belladonna is leaving that poor creature to fend for herself" Charlie was just speaking his mind however the look Annabelle gave him froze him on the spot "She's not leaving her to fend for herself, Bird is giving Belladonna the time she needs… and Glamour is what you could call magic Charles, but now is not the time for that".

Hearing a loud thud sound Annabelle's head snapped back to what was going on below, apparently Bird was back in action and what's more she was using the smaller intestines of a imp she killed earlier as a lasso to pull a imp away from getting to Belladonna and it slammed to the floor from its mid air jump, she quickly reeled it in to rip it's throat out only to hear a sound causing Bird to turn and block a lazy swing from the Slasher Demon; that seemed to have gotten it's second wind now completely free of the floor, with her wing again, she deflected its blades and some of her feathers actually took damage but she remained relatively unharmed as she shook an imp off her right leg and ripped its head off with a quick movement before she had to roll away as several deadly blades passed above the space her body used to occupy.

Bird leapt back slapping away several imps that lunged at her trying to cling to her in hopes of maybe biting or clawing her, but it wasn't going so well with Bird having to dodge so many distractions at once and knock them off of herself in a rather violent manner, not only that Bird was getting covered from head to toe in black or dark red blood as she continue to stomp another imp out.

That's when it happened and Bird swiveled her head blankly towards the now glowing Belladonna, an eerie red blaze formed around the purple dog and slowly it started ramping up in power as it gave off massive amounts of heat, the imps actually became spooked and backed away from Birds defensive form and the Slasher Demon was now too confused about the pole in its head and the rapid loss of blood to the floor to actually give notice that the purple whippet was brimming with power, it continued trying to kill Bird not really coming close to doing as such.

"I've felt the hate rise up in me, kneel down and clear the stone of leaves, I wander out where you can't see, inside my shell I wait and bleed…" slowly Donnie started to disappear becoming transparent, then blood started to flow from out of empty air forming to Donnie's shape however there was no ponytail present and something was off about Donnie "and when I let the beast free, my power overcomes me... for I scream out... PSYCHO BURGUNDY!"

Belladonna's eyes flashed open revealing a dark golden glow and she was erupting with red energy that look like a wildfire in the way it shifted around her bloody form as she rushed forward and bit off the upper half of a imp and quickly swallowed before following it up by snapping two more imps into the air and then consuming them as they came down, she started attacking them at random or the thing closest to her, the imps were caught flat footed and the spirit imps are the only ones that seemed to be avoiding the fast moving dogs wrath as she continued to consume Reds forces.

"What, what is she…" Itchy stated trying to look away from the rapid gore fest Belladonna had turned into while mirroring Sasha's and Charlie's thoughts perfectly.

Annabelle kept a concentrated eye on the battlefield watching as Bird continued to fight and deal with a few more of the spirit imps by sheer presence of proximity making their number less than half which were entirely useless against her as she was absorbing all the energy from the undead creatures, Belladonna was a uncontrolled mass of death as to be expected from someone who'd be willing to use the 'burning blood' ability.

"A normal dog with extraordinary talent… especially considering I know how to use the sister ability" Annabelle direly mumbled that second part way under her breathe which made Charlie wonder what it was that Annabelle said, this was a sick and twisted battle especially considering Belladonna was actually eating those things.

"You call eating those things normal?" Sasha was trying to wrap her head around this trying to put things in perspective with how Belladonna was acting earlier to what she was now, a raging beast that was scaring imps which were posed to be demonic and fearless, which she didn't know whether or not they were demons but what she did know was that they were beginning to fear the bloody dog who despite all the blood streaming off her with every movement didn't leave any on the floor.

Bird bisected an imp vertically dropping a wing straight through it and then moved on to decapitate another one with a spinning slash, all the while Belladonna was zipping from one imp to the next consuming them too fast for them to fight her off, but there were several clinging to her body trying to claw at the bloody whippet ripping the head off another imp and making a sickening crunching noise as she swallowed its head and she finally just turned her head and bit the lower half off one of the imps trying to hurt her, the imps weren't very intelligent so they couldn't have known that whatever they were doing was fruitless as Belladonna couldn't be hurt anymore.

Red initially thought that Belladonna was praying now he knew what it was and why she had been staying out of battle, this dog just had to have that ability, even then the Psycho Burgundy uses up the users blood, causes them to feel continuous pain as if they were stabbed with a hundred knives repeatedly and not to mention their blood burns as it covers their body making them untouchable like a ghost but added more pain like being dipped in acid, she was no more intelligent than the Slasher at this point but she was eating his imps to replenish her lost blood from continuous use, who in turn had consumed the Slasher's blood.

Now what Red had to consider was what Belladonna exactly was in terms in comparison to his army, his imps were Sorcery based whereas the royal bitch was a Necromancer, a type of person reputed for being strong against beings of Sorcery and it finally dawned on Red why he had failed so much to overcome this mutt in the underworld, it was for this very reason and that his opponent was very crafty.

The bird was a Glamour type; but there was something wrong with its Glamour usage though, even so his spirit imps were nullified as she could feed off a spirit imp till they stopped moving, Belladonna had likely planned for it to go this way from the beginning, but even then she wouldn't last long under the strain and once she dropped from usage, easy pickings if he could defeat the Glamour user as two against two hundred would still leave them inevitably unable to battle.

It was no matter as he still hasn't fought either of them yet and he would be fresh for battle as Belladonna couldn't keep her ability going forever and the avian while powerful doesn't know it's limitations, he'd have to finish off the bird but she'd still be relatively fresh after taking down the last of the spirit imps, he had the size and strength advantage plus Belladonna was just about done for in this fight.

At this point the there was only less than thirty imps altogether and seventeen of them were spirit imps that were staying away from Bird and trying to figure out how to bring down the Bloody Belle from hell, when Belladonna launched herself at not a another target but Bird herself who was still busy dealing with normal imps still trying to pile on top of her.

Annabelle watched in fright as the world seemed to slow down to her, what looked like a sure end to Bird slowly unfolded before her eyes and Belladonna's blood thirsty form slowly moved towards her through the air in a lunge glowing in the namesake of a violent shifting burgundy leaving a vapor trail of blood, Annabelle focused on what happened next trying to figure out how that was even possible, because it was the absurd with the berserker rage; that Belladonna was in, that she could actually pull something like that off.

"SHE MISSED" Red yelled loudly as he watched what he assumed would be less opposition however the bloody dog had somehow rolled sideways in midair and slammed a nearby imp; bypassing the bird entirely, against a solid stone wall and then ripped its guts out with her teeth while rebounding off the wall and into the still confused and near dead Slasher Demon as she took to its left arm on the inside of its elbow with her teeth.

Bird quickly continued on with what was left of the imps and just avoided the spirit imps for the moment while Donnie was wrestling with the monstrous flesh pile with painful metal piercings, of which that of its right arm had subsequently pierced her doing negligible damage as the blades eroded from her body as she took a large chunk of its left arm and destroyed most of its blades on its right arm at the same time.

"How… how did, how did Belladonna… how did she survive that" Itchy said in panic having watched the blades that entered Belladonna were destroyed and the parts that stuck out of her other side just dropped to the floor as if her body consumed the blades that passed through most of her vital spots.

"She can practically survive anything… as long as she has enough blood to keep going, it burns out quicker the longer she's like that, but otherwise nothing can hurt her, only stall her till she stops it herself or…" Annabelle paused not wanting to say that Belladonna would go as far as die; users of this kind of ability could usually stop it before they died and is the only other option they are aware of other then dying as the body is kind of out of control, which was kind of being brought into question when she saw Belladonna flicker for a moment before hitting Bird.

The user is never in any shape to fight due to massive blood loss and having almost no energy left, but that wasn't the worst effect and that was what happens after the user wakes up if they lived through this… the side effects are quite horrendous for the temporary burst of power and semi invincibility, Belladonna used the long charged version to build up energy so that she'd last longer than a normal situation and in a normal situation it was better to use Psycho Burgundy in short burst attacks, it was still painful and draining though survivability was higher than the prolonged activity.

By this point there were hardly any imps left and Bird was mopping them up quite easily with a kick or just simply walking all over them in a literal sense, while Donnie was all busy wrestling something that was made of sharp metal and disgusting flesh, but it would be better termed as mauling the thing as it's left arm from the elbow was lying on the floor it's other arm missing to the shoulder and the right side of its torso was ripped out leaving only sharp pointy metallic bones visible as it started to groan loudly as it dies, the blazing dog had pretty much eaten half the entire thing before it finally gave up on living.

Belladonna started for Red but slowly started to… flicker… between the bloody visage and the normal purple fur that the dog was usually known for, she stumbled and slowly the flickering stopped leaving a weak and pale looking dog in its wake that instantly dropped into the quickly drying blood on the floor that belonged to the dead Slasher Demon, but a fresher source of the stuff was from Belladonna herself as her blood just slid off her form onto the floor.

Belladonna was down and more importantly within Red's striking distance this was his chance to take the bitch down, he quickly lashed out with his right arm only to be deflected by Bird diving in and blocking his attack at Belladonna's recently unguarded form with a swift kick to knock back his arm and she quickly rolled away taking the Belle's spent body with her as she leapt to an upper level to drop off Belladonna.

Red took a quick scan of the battlefield and saw only three imps were still in any shape for fighting the rest were already more than halfway gone and unsalvageable even with the extra blood from the Slasher Demon to feed them, mysteriously there were four spirit imps left untouched.

Belladonna had been so close and Red would not be denied now, he ordered all the imps to all out attack as best they could in such small numbers, but made a mental gesture to go after Belladonna and to leave the bird to him, as Belladonna wouldn't be putting up a fight any time soon and all he had to do was keep Bird away from her.

Red leapt up to the same level Bird did and surged forward to knock Bird away from Belladonna but she stood her ground and positioned her wing curved protectively in front of herself while standing in front of Donnie, as his fist rammed home Bird skidded backwards two centimeters and for a split second a shimmer of a half circle of solid energy appeared in front of Bird before disappearing.

Red narrowed his eyes, this creature was more then he previously thought if it could make barriers in such a state it's in and he was quite impressed, it was too bad he didn't like what Bird was doing now.

Bird took on a vibrant green glow and the last four spirit imps dropped to the ground as worthless piles of bone while Bird put a glowing wing next to the unconscious dogs form and a barrier erupted around the dog taking out most of her energy and disabling her stabilized state causing her to start slowly dying again. (She was stabilized by Belladonna in 'Home' to stop from dying so rapidly dude)

"What the… WHAT IS SHE DOING?" Annabelle finally noticed what was wrong with Bird and what exactly she just did to protect Belladonna, as she broke what seemed to be stabilizing her causing Annabelle to finally take notice of Birds true state and Belladonna was the only one who could have possibly put the stabilizer there, now Annabelle was getting anxious that Bird was slowly dying because she cast what amounts to protection spell in magic terms that broke the stabilization that honestly Annabelle did not know about until now.

The other dogs looked to Annabelle wondering what she meant, if it was Bird protecting Belladonna they considered that it would be cruel of an angel to leave a weak and helpless person in the lurch even if it was a notorious dog, they decided to question it later as they didn't know everything that was going on.

Bird flew backwards and skidded on the floor after taking a vicious kick she barely blocked with her wings and if it hurt she didn't feel any of it, but she was slowing down now and this was the only sign that she could tell that she was beginning to die again, it was apparent that she broke her stabilization trying to shield Donnie who must be defended at all cost in her logical mind.

The three imps that were left went on to attack the shield protecting Belladonna, but it would only hold for as long as Bird was still standing, so attacking it was like attacking her directly as it drained her energy for each time an imps claws or the single miniature pitchfork scraped the shield relentlessly, while she ducked and dodged around Reds attempt to kill her.

Red knew it was only a matter of time and his victory was going to be ever so sweet, he could already taste the chicken cacciatore already, he received a vicious blow across the face from a curled right winged hook, apparently his meal still had some fight left in it.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: see previous disclaimer dude.

"How can she go toe to toe without feeling whatever Red is dishing out" Charlie watched as the Bird was getting more evasive then defensive.

"It's like she's ignoring everything Red is doing" Sasha watched as Bird to three claws to the face and didn't even stagger or react to what should have been clearly painful as the blood flew from the scratch to the left side of her face when Annabelle spoke up "She can't win like this… she doesn't have her heart".

They all looked to Annabelle and saw that her eyes were glowing blue; which looked entirely eerie on the angel, before a quick blink set them back to normal her face looked worried and panicked as she watched Bird get brought down from two fronts at the same time and whatever Belladonna might have done to stabilize her wasn't working and she was possibly losing all the faster the longer that barrier with the imps constantly attacking it held up, but the imps weren't being left alone as the barrier was affecting them not to any great extreme but it did hurt them to hit it as much as they were without results.

"Her heart? It looks to be perfectly fine to me with the way she's dealing with Red Annabelle" Itchy was watching as Bird leapt over Red and gave a sharp kicked to his back launching him head first into a cell door damaging it.

"WHY WON'T YOU JUST DIE YOU MISERABLE CREATURE?" Red redoubled his efforts and Bird continued to slug it out with him, taking quite a few more hits then she previously had been, without a sound in pain.

"Not the organ Itchiford, her emotional comprehension, her empathy, what makes her who she is, is quite sadly not there and she's basically just a empty shell running on the simplest needs to just exist and return to being whole again, with whatever might result in the second goal as long as the first is achieved" Annabelle was scarily dragging the idea through her head of how long Bird had been like this, it wasn't pretty with how cold and heartless a logic driven being can be and then there was the fact that she could still use Glamour which should have been impossible.

That was unless she was tapping a secondary source to perform the feat which most likely had to be… but that was ridiculous unless Bird was managing to compensate for it by using her memories as a springboard to replace what didn't exist naturally at the moment, so she was doing it artificially which could only mean she was tapping Alchemy to do this and it was all she had going for her, Annabelle knew that taking on a Sorcery aligned like Red with that would only lead to disaster but Bird barely even managed to erect a lasting barrier connected directly to her quickly dwindling lifespan.

"How does getting herself killed out there make her achieve the first goal" Charlie said watching as Bird managed a good kick against the larger red cat like creature as she slammed face first to the ground with a paw to the back and she quickly rolled out of the way from a second strike as Annabelle responded "Because she might logically think Belladonna is the only way she can live long enough to achieve her second goal which supersedes the first because Belladonna can keep her alive in her current state"

Annabelle thought of the four paths of energy as she watched Bird struggle to live, they were Heart, Spirit, Body and Mind each of these paths encompassed what came to be known as Glamour, Necromancy, Sorcery and Alchemy, which was better known as magic even if it wasn't really magic at all, but try explaining that to a people that liked using the term magic for everything they could do. (Tried my best with this upcoming section to explain the reasoning behind it, but I think I failed dude)

The power of the heart is usually used through ones emotions to move energy, it led some to believing that a Glamour user was weak, technically it was true that emotions could weaken a person but they could also do just the opposite, however just because it was from the heart doesn't mean it was all good and dandy, bad things can come from the heart and due to how it was used before it got its name; being glamour, to protect a person's vanity and appearance.

The power of the Spirit was something Annabelle knew all too well as this hit close to her heart like a dagger was shoved there, not to mention when Bird came back that dagger has been twisting in her ever since, how it works was usually; usually being a keyword meaning it wasn't a set prerogative, through ones resolve which usually is steadfast and the power always came from within, what would be hard to explain about all this is how a person can have no spirit yet have heart or have heart and no spirit because that can happen as Bird has barely survived thus far not having either.

Sorcery was the power of the body, it was usually by the force of will that the energy behind it worked like turning air into a fireball with a grasp of the hand or turning a swift movement into a flying blade of wind, it always involved movement or pronouncement of strength to do, the most common kind of battle that occurred in this path was the sorcerers duel where two combatants pit their bodies in a all out fight of rapidly changing forms which is why there weren't many who could do sorcery outside the underworld nowadays as in the underworld power and appearance were everything, except maybe for Belladonna who scared people but stayed almost normal in appearance except for the wings which she now thankfully didn't have any more and it was why Red was as large as he appeared.

Alchemy was the power of the mind, despite what the context of alchemy was posed to be; I.E. mixing stuff and getting a result, Bird actually proved what it was, the ability to adapt to any situation and change the field and surroundings to benefit the user as well as make use of things in a artificial way, it usually encompassed memories and knowledge with other incalculable variables that made it far more then it seems causing the persons thoughts to have their own unique power, the more imaginative a user was the more powerful they were and if this was the thing Bird lost, one of many things might occur from losing all her memories to her being entirely insane or being literally a mindless thing that could be controlled by anyone with small exception that her other paths might've made her unruly while being controlled, Bird's mind was exceedingly powerful to have gotten her this far. (There's a reason for every 'usually' used here, as this explanation was hard enough to come up with or even understand myself, so you can ignore this as part of the story as I thought it would make sense in context dude)

All in all, they all weren't good or evil and could practically do the same thing but through very different methods and they each opposed each other and had their weaknesses as well as strengths, there was no exact science to it as science was created from the mind to begin with to try and explain the impossible.

If Bird were at her normal ability her heart mixed with her mind would have put Red and the now currently dead Slasher down without being scratched and there wouldn't have been any spirit imps by that point, however given how she is compensating for loss of whatever it was her mind was filling in the gap for as she used it to trigger her nonexistent heart, she wasn't going to last long on artificially simulating her regular abilities.

Bird took a vicious kick to the probably sore chest and slid backwards, there was barely any energy holding her together other then what she was scrounging from the very grounds of Alcatraz, she was nearly as spent as Belladonna becoming increasingly slower but she still got up to continue to batter Red no matter how little damage she was doing.

"Annabelle what is that grey figure there for?" Itchy was going to need a psychologist or maybe even therapy after this mess, but he was still aware and curious about the figure that had been floating around watching things progress without doing a single thing the entire time.

"He's the Reaper of the Reapers Fight, he is here to take the loser away when it's all over and I rather not talk about what'll happen if Belladonna and her… friend… loses, it's a very sad thing to know, it also makes sure the rules are followed as nothing escapes its notice" Annabelle had to wonder if Belladonna had a backup plan and she carefully combed over the words Belladonna used before the fight started.

"Counter-rule the spectators may not be attack, harmed or otherwise involved in the fight" Annabelle's mind echoed, but why would Belladonna care about spectators that couldn't do… then it occurred to her what else Belladonna might have said that was the key to how she was going to win this fight, even if Belladonna would be in no condition to fight for more than a week and that Bird was already on her last legs of strength.

After consideration Annabelle didn't like it, but it made sense in the long run that Belladonna would find a loophole and she usually did, Annabelle just wished she didn't know what that loophole entailed and why Belladonna desperately needed the spectators unharmed.

Belladonna had planned this fight from the beginning and it might not have gone entirely to plan but the outcome was already set, Annabelle didn't like what was about to happen as she watched Red slam Bird again with a sickening crack and instantly one of Birds wings had seemingly been dislocated, if there was any apparent discomfort Bird didn't show anything except a look toward the damaged and bent wing which she tried to move it, but it hardly responded at all and if Bird could feel anything she would have been in something well beyond crippling pain at this point.

Bird tried to stand but her left leg didn't seem to be responding either, she tried to logically come about how she was going to win this fight and considered that she had nothing left, survival was more likely if she stopped moving and saved her energy as logically there was nothing left to do other than that.

So Bird bided her time as Red took a moment to gloat, oh how he loved to gloat and this was one of the few problems he had, which he shouldn't have done while the fight was still going.

"So ends the great 'For whom the bell tolls' Belladonna" Red raised his right arm back cackling madly with the rush of inevitable victory and slowly stood to full height watching as Bird put her left wing in front of her and maneuvered her other leg to grip the floor bracing for any impact that would come, her other wing lay uselessly flopping somewhat to move to help defend her body.

Red swung his arm down and in a flash it all changed and the most likely thing Belladonna expected to happen had come to pass.

(Ba-dump)

(Ba-bump)

(Ba-dump)

It was fifteen days later at an apartment that was lived in by nothing human as it was somewhat abandoned and a figure was stirring inside the place in a corner of the room moving slightly at first then gaining coherence as its head pounded.

"Ohhhnnnn… did anyone get the number of that steamboat that ran me over? No wait that's stupid, steamboats aren't that fast" The figures eyes groggily moved around and saw a very familiar setting; it was an apartment but not just any apartment, it was vaguely familiar to the person now laying there and the person tried to move only to find that there was a restriction keeping that person from getting up, it was a straitjacket.

"Yeah it figures, HELLO I'M WAKING THE DEAD AROUND HERE WITH MY VOICE!" The person shifted up into a sitting position and wiggled a bit, whoever wrapped this binding jacket did a very good job and only two people could have done that, hopefully one of them was okay emotionally and the other was still breathing.

Carefully the figure took stock of its surroundings, the couch covered in crap, along with half the room… and the other half is incredibly tidy and clean to the extreme that even a coffee stain was only a small almost indistinct mark on a nearby table, there was also a funnel under it… oh she just got back from losing her mind then.

"I'm going to need a lot to drink after this is all over" The figure said as suddenly a noise was heard and a door was being opened to this room a figure walked trotted in and saw that the person in the straitjacket was awake and looking at him.

"Viva Le France?" The person tested in a very good French Accent and the dog that had entered the room freaked out for a second before calming down and realizing that it was said in a more questioning tone and with a bit of satirical humor edged in.

The scene zoomed out to show Itchy the Dachshund was now glaring at what he supposed was a now completely aware Belladonna or else she wouldn't have posed that in such a ludicrous way.

"I'm guessing you didn't like the Napoleon routine then? So how long was I a Waterloo nutcase Scratch?" Belladonna said dripping with sarcasm and taking notice that her hair was a bit long than usual, as she continued to minutely struggle with the straitjacket.

"Fi-five hours and I don't want to talk about it, especially with all you've done" Itchy was very wary of her as she seemed to be fully cognizant of her actions but he still wasn't sure, he nervously pawed at the hat on his head.

"Heh I broke my old insanity record, I guess it's been a while and you had to use a funnel to keep me alive right?" Itchy twitched ever so slightly at the use of the word funnel; he would never go there again for as long as he could manage "Whoa someone must really dislike you if you had funnel duty, man oh man do I have a headache, how long was I loco in the cabasa and is Bird alright, I didn't hurt her did I? I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I did."

"Fifteen days Belladonna, the fifteen most hare brained screwball hellish days of my life and the first thing you worry about is that you hurt someone… I guess I was wrong about you… and… are you… crying" Itchy suddenly looked at the villainous dogs face and saw the worry flowing from Belladonna's eyes but she was pretty darn close to crying, he just stared and he actually felt a pang of hurt travel through him as he didn't know how to comfort her "Is she okay, I know I went for her, I must have, I can remember wanting to rip her throat out… please… tell me she's alright… tell me that… Itchy…"

Itchy was shocked that she would even say please or even say his name right, this dog was almost crying like she had just lost her mother which he might have previously thought she'd never shed a tear for if it did happen in front of her, he might as well tell her.

"She's alright, but it's strange… we haven't seen her since she picked up that crystal but she was alive when I last saw her..." Belladonna looked to Itchy hanging onto his every words her focus was sharp as if to say continue or die where you sit, even in a straitjacket Belladonna had proven to be quite a vicious piece of work and she could still be even while crying up a heap of sobs, Itchy did not want test that or to be in the same room alone with her but he wanted to allay any of her fears so he could allay his own that he'd be flayed alive by a glowing red dog that wouldn't think twice about eating him "She was here for about three days and the crystal that the reaper left to… I don't know what to think of her anymore, but... the crystal did something weird and Bird quickly kind of grabbed it and ran off, Sasha went to follow her and I haven't heard from either since, Charlie's out getting food for us and as for… well she… she's been a bit off and I don't know what to think of her anymore she's always been so cool and caring, to be honest Belladonna my world views are shot".

"If you're talking about all pink and puffy I think I know what happened to her, she laughed a bitter laugh didn't she…" Itchy nodded and Belladonna cackled slightly in a bitter way though calming down quite a bit "I'm not going to apologize to Annabelle but your very curious aren't you, I need you to tell me what happened exactly before I tell you why it was possible for her to interfere in the fight without breaking a single rule"

Itchy's eyes widened, Belladonna must have planned for that outcome, but he was still up in the air about how he felt of Belladonna, sure she was mean, nasty and wicked but he's seen some things about her in the past few minutes that are startling, which is more than the awkward things he learned about her in the past fifteen days that he wished he didn't know about, especially when she hit on Sasha a lot in the second day of insanity; a day before Bird ran off, talking about her in a very affectionate manner that cause both Charlie and him to get very red in the face.

"Fine, I guess it was around the time that Annabelle mentioned something about Birds heart and she said some stuff about Glamour previously, then I asked her about the reaper thing and she replied that it's a sad thing to know what happens to the losers, do you know what she meant" Belladonna started muttering under breathe and then she gave Itchy a quite interesting frank look that said she was considering what to tell Itchy this guy was a good friend to anyone and she didn't know whether to make him cry or not because she actually felt conflicted at the moment "Well looks like Annabelle is still a better secret keeper, but she mentioned the four paths of energy and to understand that well it's basically what people could call magic, but it's not magic and its rather hard to explain, but yes I know what Annabelle was talking about and I'm not about to divulge that information, but continue I'm intrigued to know how long she let it go on"

"Let what go on Belladonna" Itchy said before he regretted looking to Belladonna in the eyes "Before she finally moved to save Bird and me, also could you start from the beginning after I launched myself into the fray".

That kind of settled it for Itchy, she had planned it loosely at a guess and as it was far more complicated as he didn't know what was going on or who actually won in all this except Belladonna obviously whose been an insane raving lunatic for at least the sum of two weeks nearly managing to kill herself a couple of times which was swiftly prevented by Sasha, himself and especially Charlie who commented on it dryly that he may dislike her but he didn't outright hate her as hate wasn't a good thing to hold onto for someone who taught you good life lessons in a reverse manner by letting you learn it for yourself.

The only reason why he and Charlie housed her is because Annabelle said too or else something bad might occur worse than Belladonna's Christmas scheme and Annabelle stressed that it could be a very, very bad idea to leave Belladonna alone to herself in this state, but after that Annabelle became quiet and reclusive, not even appearing anywhere around them if at all and they were the ones left holding the crystal after they left, she also seemed moody the few seconds he saw her two days ago and that wasn't something you expected of someone who was angelic in nature, as normally she was sweet and kind, now she seemed to be cold and aloof.

"Before we continue this conversation I just want to know exactly what I ate as I feel like vomiting a lot right now" Belladonna couldn't for the life of her remember why her mouth had this horrible taste of road kill, then again she's had plenty of good and bad road kill before but whatever she was tasting right now was plain repugnant and Itchy remembered what exactly she had snack on to cause that reaction "You ate the half giant thing with the blades and you ate a lot of those imps, may I get started please"

"Sure but get me some mouth wash, you don't need to untie me just get a bucket and then start telling me everything in detail because I don't think she noticed what my plan was until it came to a dire situation and right now I just want Bird to be here so if you talk to me to help me keep my mind off the fact that she isn't… or else you won't wake up the next time you go to sleep" Itchy nodded at the seemingly empty threat before leaving the room and coming back with a bucket and some mint flavored mouth wash, which he let Belladonna spit into a bucket after a rather large amount of gargling and Itchy started into the events as he could recall them up to when Red brought his right arm claws first down on Bird who was on the defensive or he should say the last strike that would have ultimately killed her. (They needed to use a funnel so I doubt she could be tasting anything else given they probably couldn't get her to eat normally dude)

Itchy had explained that he was watching the fight; both Sasha and Charlie didn't understand most of what brought the fight about in the first place, of course Bird had held against all those imps real well despite being horribly outnumbered she had been vicious without an ounce of remorse or anything for that matter, she even procured a weapon from the bars of a jail cell and somehow managed to cut up the imps with her feathers.

"Her heart right now is just a pale imitation to what she could really do like the sharpened feathers thing but since she is using artificial means of Alchemy it's not as strong as it could be; in any case did she use the bar she made as a spear?" Itchy looked to Belladonna questioningly he had so many questions he wanted to ask but he might as well "Yes, she also rammed it into top of that large creature I swear I've never seen something so horrifying before, but what exactly is Glamour and what about the Alchemy thing?"

"Well let me just explain there are four paths of energy, which everyone could be said to have but not in any focused amount to do anything with but it's quite necessary to have at least two undamaged paths or else you might end up like Bird and be constantly sliding toward a imminent death… the paths are spirit, body, mind and heart each is a representation of self and the abilities you saw were the culmination of moving the energy involved in one or more of those paths, usually people label them magic and or different things throughout history but mostly it's just moving energy no magic about it, if anything you should call us shifters" Belladonna went on to explain the concept of Alchemy, Necromancy, Glamour and Sorcery as people saw it whether Itchy understood or not she didn't care and moved on.

"Birds main pathway is Heart but that was removed or heavily damaged in a incident I don't want to talk about, it was removed along with her spirit and body, otherwise her mind was left alone and thankfully it was able to temporarily fill in the gap for the damaged parts of herself, which were quite noticeable as missing a personality if having very little remaining from using her untouched memory as a stopgap, she made up for her inability to feel anything like pain by constantly checking her bodies energy to determine if she is healthy or not which could also help her hear things and the loss of voice by using other means of communication mostly of which is visual, I'm pretty sure you can figure out how these things might coincide with her paths" Itchy for the most part was intrigued if not a little put off by all this, he didn't understand half of what she was saying but he understood that Bird was missing parts of herself in a metaphysical sense "So I guess her voice was her spirit, her ability to feel from her body and her lost emotions was her heart? How does that all lead up to this and what is it all about?"

"Yes and in due time I'm going to explain it all in full, but when that happens I hope you're going to be ready for the fallout if any Scratch, in any case this isn't only related to me but Annabelle as well and I'm going to make her talk about it and you'll get all you'll need to know from us when it comes to it, but continue I'm intrigued to hear what happens next" Belladonna looked bored and was currently counting the clumps of possibly ambulatory mold Charlie must have dragged in as some kind of weird garbage collection of things that used to be food that was again alive.

Itchy decided to go into gruesome detail with how badly Belladonna ripped apart Red's forces with her bare teeth and he said he didn't know what to think at that point given that she never bothered to use that with them and he actually thanked Belladonna for not doing such a thing which was a surprise to her, then after she faltered Bird took her out of Reds path while she was out of the battle… "What was that you did anyway?"

"I said in due time, continue or else you'll find yourself buried in the Arabian Desert, I here that's not pleasant at this time of the year" Itchy gulped as she sounded quite serious with that threat but continued, on to how Bird set up a barrier and Annabelle made some kind of exclamation but stayed put and watched as Bird punched, kicked and maneuvered Red away from Belladonna while she was still being attacked by three imps being protected by a barrier.

"She must have broken my stabilizer, I used part of myself to instill her to normalcy but it only works in making sure she wasn't in such a rapid declining state, of course any damage dealt to her instantly translates as phantom pain to me as long as she had part of myself in her and she still couldn't feel anything, but I sure could and you can't imagine how much it felt like I was dipped in a vat of acid and acid proof needles… actually more to the size of acid proof spears or something really big and sharp like that… then primarily set on fire while covered in any kind of highly flammable oil, oh sorry please continue" Now that was a bit of news Itchy didn't really think was good and it was entirely disturbing that she'd remember what it felt like to be running around slaughtering things with reckless abandon.

So to recap throughout the entire fight any damage bird took up to the point Annabelle said 'what is she doing' Belladonna felt every ounce whereas Bird was kept alive by part of Belladonna and Belladonna got the brunt of and the short end of a stick, how could she possibly have taken on all that pain and the bigger question is why, but then again when her wings exploded from her back she didn't seem too acknowledge the pain after a few seconds so maybe she was used to it and she seemed to really care about that bird to actually do something like that.

Now Red was about to end the battle by striking with his paw and as he swung downward on Bird's semi defenseless form a pillar of ice ripped through is upper torso and hit the wall above where Bird was downed and behind red was Annabelle flapping her angelic wing and with her right paw wrapped around Belladonna's waist she had a grim look on her face, as she dropped to the floor gently setting down Belladonna of course this was after disconnecting her left paw from the spear of ice that pierced through Red and it mysteriously took on the colors of an aurora borealis.

Red just stood there with his paw stopped by the pillar of ice and then started to cough up blood in disbelief, Annabelle then held up a paw and with a gentle movement she shed some tears and suddenly ice in the shape of flower exploded from Red killing him from within, as the reaper floated over to the now immobile corpse it dropped the crystal in front of Annabelle who just stood there regarding the object on the floor wondering what it was before she could feel her own side effects from her attack creeping up, but picked it up anyway and looked at a torn and shattered Bird before laughing bitterly at the situation as the side effects took a hold of her she hated this part of her special ability which mirrored Belladonna's, she quickly helped Bird before her side effects completely kicked in.

"I guess Annabelle took care of those imps that were attacking you and then before we knew it all the bodies of the imps, the blood… oh geeze the blood, it all disappeared only a bit of it was left behind with some of that birds feathers and before we knew it Annabelle was ordering us to make haste and leave her and to take the crystal, you and the bird with us with a warning to keep you safe" Itchy was not a happy camper he tried to be positive but nothing about that was positive as it was a pretty morbid affair "Guess she used it then, damn that had to hurt and even more than anything that was probably done to Bird or me for the whole fight".

"What exactly was it she used?" Itchy questioningly looked to Belladonna who kept a straight face "Homicidal Hyacinth, frozen heart ability instead of burning up the body's blood like my ability does it slowly but with increasing speed freezes the heart muscle and organs stopping them in their tracks and eventually killing the user, its most noted effects instead of making the user stronger it makes everyone else close by weaker, the side effects are kind of similar to what you went through with me these past days but much more different and if you think I'm scary then there is a good reason why Annabelle has been avoiding you for the last two weeks, so don't worry about it as Annabelle doesn't do psycho or any form of insanity… that's my department, what happens to her is worse than that but don't ask her about it or you'll just make it worse for her... she'll be fine, just don't ask".

"Okay I just want to know one thing and it's been nagging me at the back of my mind and I know Charlie wouldn't think to ask this, but you did make it a rule that spectators couldn't interfere and Annabelle said it was a horrible thing to lose in that fight, why would Annabelle be exempt from breaking one of the rules if you in fact made a rule that she couldn't do anything at all, then why is it everything turned out alright in the end" The nervous dog looked to the stoic purple mutt who just smile darkly and started talking in a cheeky voice not befitting her personality at the moment "Yeah Chucky is pretty dense about a… about a lot of things really, especially considering what happened during the whole Anna Marie thing, man that was some of my best work, but to understand why Annabelle was able to interfere there are two things you have to consider… one, who was the one that claimed that she was a spectator and two remember what I said way back when we were setting our teams, if you can think outside the box at that point you'd understand" .

Itchy frowned wondering how exactly she was involved with Anna Marie and that time Charlie came back from the dead, but he never saw her at any time during all of that, but it did give him a sinking feeling in his gut that Belladonna had been involved in his and Charlie's lives long before they met her and that she was still as dangerous as ever.

It took a moment for Itchy to flesh out what he remembered it was Red who claimed Annabelle was a spectator, but carefully considered how Belladonna worded what she said but he still didn't understand all she said was if he remembered right was that all of her and Bird being all of their team and he didn't see any box to think outside of either.

"I don't get it you stated quite clearly that you and that bird were all of your team, Annabelle couldn't have been involved then as red said she was a spectator" The look that crossed Belladonna's face was a wicked smirk now and Itchy was wondering what Belladonna was thinking and she gave him the answer "Actually Red just thought she was a spectator and another thing is that she was in fact part of my team when I stated myself quite clearly before the reaper who I chose to be on my team"

"But that doesn't make any sense the only people on your team were yourself… and the bird… anyway you stated clearly that you two were the only people on the team" Belladonna smiled at Itchy's confusion, she decided to get him to come to the obvious conclusion but she'd spell it out either way, but it was more fun to drag it out "Exactly, there were only two people on the team".

"But Annabelle makes three" Itchy shouted and Belladonna continued to snicker to herself silently "Do you know what my full name is SCRATCH, it'd really help you figure this out".

"What does your name have to do with this" Itchy said still trying to work out Belladonna's cryptic reply and she gave an even more cryptic reply to his question.

"Everything".


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: see previous disclaimer dude.

It had been a few minutes since Itchy worked his mind feverishly to understand what Belladonna was being so coy about, she said her name was important, but her name was Belladonna… wasn't it? But what did that have to do with Annabelle being able to break a rule with a reaper floating around and he didn't think that thing was just for show, she even said it made sure the rules were followed so why didn't it react when Annabelle interfered and why would Belladonna's name allow that to happen.

Itchy was thinking about this hard as he stared at the calm looking Belladonna tilt her head to stare at the tip of her ponytail hanging down from the back of her head, the answer was in her name and for the life of him he couldn't figure out why, but then he went back to when she set the teams she never said her name… she said all of herself and the bird… no wait she said bird in a different tone.

"What was the name of that bird?" Itchy was curious, neither he nor Charlie knew the Birds name and Sasha mentioned something about it to Charlie but that was the extent of his knowledge as he hadn't been paying attention he was a honest and down to earth dog that knew something was nagging at the back of his mind about this but he couldn't figure out what, Belladonna's voice became dangerously edged as she answered him "Bird, that's her name, not her real one but it's what she goes by and that's all your likely to get from me, it's not her name that you should be focusing on anyway".

"Fine then what's your name" Taking on a thoughtful look Belladonna considered it for a moment and likely couldn't think of a way to drag this out any more unless she… well that might work "Think real hard about how I set my team up and how there can only be two people on it, after all I did say something pretty strange didn't I?"

Itchy considered that she did say 'all of me' but how in the world would that have included Annabelle, she was a separate entity a different dog entirely from her cousin Belladonna… wait… he didn't know Annabelle's full name and he didn't know Belladonna's full name so maybe it was because of their last names.

"Was it because your last names are the same?" Belladonna yawned and responded quite eloquently "Swing and miss Scratch, but you dinged the ball at least, but it still ended up foul like the fight, my friend and the whole affair of having to deal with you two and the pink puff with her head in the clouds all the time, ready to give up yet or do you want more hints".

Itchy knew Belladonna was baiting him, but he couldn't help it all this talk was interesting as he never really sat down and conversed with her when she was out and about doing conniving things, but she never actually forced anyone to do anything other than Carface… but Carface sold his soul to… Red… this is beginning to make some kind of eerie connection.

"How did you gain control of Carface…" Itchy said and Belladonna smiled, he wanted to continue playing her game at least this is keeping her busy, mental gymnastics were always fun but she couldn't match a person of alchemic wit, but her spirit makes up for it in cunning where she wasn't all that smart, just well informed with lots of connections.

"Funny, it's about time one of you realized something was up about that, but you never wondered about Killer either did you and Annabelle certainly might have an inkling to how I came about owning Carface and then getting him back to life, but Annabelle never brought It up and after he was alive again I had no control over him and that thing at Christmas made him a little better on the inside but he's still looking out for number one, I actually feel kind sorry for the poor old 'face plant' but I'm not going to explain it quite yet, I want to savor the moment when I tell everyone later " Honestly Itchy didn't know why the dog named Killer was still alive or still running around, but this was beginning to sound almost conspiratorial in the way Belladonna presented it and it was beginning to freak him out with how far Belladonna can actually plan things out ahead of time, but if she was this good then how come they've won against her so often or maybe they weren't winning at anything at all.

A deep chill ran down Itchy's spine and the wiener dog shuddered violently at the thought of being toyed with, but then again she toyed with Charlie and hardly ever did anything to him, he wondered if any conversation Charlie had with Belladonna had any hidden implications.

"Hello, earth to wiener schnitzel, are you actually going brain dead or are you going to start asking questions relative to the one you want answered which was how could Annabelle interfere in the fight and it still be fair without cheating the rules and my claims to having only two people on my team" Okay now that his attention was back on the straitjacketed dog that he hadn't seen a reason to put the gag back on yet as she might have tried to bite her own tongue off if left to it long enough while crazy, she looked to be having fun with this and he didn't want to outright ask the question that would simply settle the matter as he wasn't sure he actually wanted to know at this point.

"Was it because Bird didn't exactly equal a full person?" Now he had to admit that it sounded stupid but he still had to ask "Wow, now you're just reaching, but that would have led to a good idea and it is a relevant thought, but that's still not it".

"I probably won't be able to figure this out unless I know your name… are you Annabelle's twin sister I know she said you were cousins but …" Belladonna actually gained a poker face at that bit of thought before looking thoughtful this caused Itchy to think that he had got it right but he was sadly mistaken when Belladonna face went flat and she gave a rather chipper answer "Nope you probably won't at this rate and my name is going to really make you flip out after it sinks in when I tell you, also we're technically not cousins or sisters, even if we were it wouldn't explain how there could only be two people on my team and no outside interference".

"But you definitely know the answer… fine what do you want from me?" At this point Belladonna burst out laughing, but after a moment of being glared at by Itchy she finally managed to calm herself down "Sorry, but this is all so funny I never actually expected you to think I wanted anything from you but given our history I can understand where you're coming from, but if you're taking request… can you get me some water and I need to use the facilities I can only guess that I haven't been housebroken for a while and I really must have done some embarrassing things but I actually have control of my bladder right now".

"You're really understating how much you put me and Charlie through these past few days and embarrassing doesn't even begin to cover it, but Charlie didn't want you to do anything harmful to yourself and neither did I for that matter if I'm going to be honest with myself, I'll get you some water and I'd rather not talk about the other request, but I'll think about it" Well this was beginning to get real awkward between the two of them "Thank you, you're a true gentleman unfortunately I'm none to gentle and I'm no lady either so don't go thinking I'm either of those".

"I never said you were" If anything Itchy was more tolerant of his guest now while he went trotting off and a few minutes later everything was taken care of and Belladonna was still in the straitjacket but Itchy helped her drink the water she asked for.

"Thanks but all things considered I still don't think you trust me, so I didn't bother asking for you to remove the jacket and decided to go with something more practical… and actually quite reasonable" If anything Belladonna looked bored now like she was getting tired of being wrapped up, she knew she could escape at any time but she didn't want to, she needed to unload a lot of history so that everything will be known and she was about done dancing around the issue with Itchy who spoke up "Well, what is your name and how does it fit in to all of this?"

"Okay, just to be sure you understand the full complications of what I'm about to say I'm only going to state my first, middle and last name slowly as it should make it all clear as to how any of what happened was possible" With that Itchy nodded waiting for her to go on and she did so in a very cheery voice while acting perky all of the sudden she enunciated quite clearly "HI, my name is, Anna… Belle…. Donna".

Itchy just sat there staring at her Bella… no he was staring at someone who just claimed that her name is… but if that was true then…

"What's Annabelle's real name?" No it couldn't be, none of this would make sense to Itchy and if it was true then this was going to be horribly weird, Belladonna answered quite bluntly "Anna Belle Donna, my name is derived from Belle Anna Donna I just swapped my middle and first name around abbreviated Anna down to the letter A remove the E and attached it my first and last name as to separate me from myself while she used the first and middle name forward to make it less confusing so we could identify ourselves, so she is in full Annabelle Donna and I'm Bell-A-donna Donna which is a little silly but I like it, of course being one in the same person really doesn't come up often in conversations and you must admit it'd get rather confusing if we both answered to the same name huh".

Itchy's reaction while priceless left him frozen sitting their wide eyed and unmoving so much so that Belladonna thought he had died, but he was still breathing but otherwise he was barely blinking at all or even moving, she only wished she had a camera as the implications of what she just explained finally hit him so hard it must have cause his brain to collapse in on itself.

The fact that she and Annabelle used to be one person was quite a real interesting story really, of course being separated for so long she didn't think she could ever go back to being combined back into one dog again and it was about this time that Charlie came in with a load of Chinese food in a cardboard tray in his mouth, to notice the strange scene.

His best friend Itchy sitting there with a lifeless look on his face and quite a strange one at that, Belladonna awake and looking at him quietly before smiling slightly which unsettled him slightly and the fact that she didn't have that crazed look in her eye made him even more nervous.

"Hey Chucky good news, you won't need the funnel anymore" Charlie blinked at Belladonna's perky attitude, he didn't know why she was so perky but if he had to guess it had to do with why Itchy looked like a bird could build a nest in his mouth without him noticing and while he was glad they didn't have to use the funnel anymore he was freaked out by the blank faced Itchy, what in the world could Belladonna have said to get him to stand there like that with a gawking look on his face.

Itchy's mind race with all the possibilities of what he just learned, but he was to shaken up they were both the same person… well that might have made some sort of sense as Belladonna or what was supposed to be Belladonna could actually take on Annabelle's form or what was supposed to be Annabelle but otherwise she didn't change her form to anything else, he was so confused and he was messed up mentally which was an understatement.

If they were both the same person does that mean Annabelle actually toys with them herself, is their existence all based around being the plaything of one dog claiming to be in two places at once, this was horribly messed up and it made almost less sense now that he knew what Belladonna was hinting at, there were only two people in the fight against Red, the bird and Anna Belle Donna, there is no third person… but that still doesn't explain how it works, he heard a voice say something to him and even heard the snapping of fingers from a paw, but his mind was still wrapped around the fact that Belladonna was in fact Annabelle and that the reverse was true.

"What in the world did you do you him?" Charlie said angrily and Belladonna sniffed derisively while snickering slightly, she sounded to be having fun at Itchy's expense whatever that was and she couldn't have possibly done anything as she was still in the straitjacket "Nothing physical, but I certainly enjoyed seeing that look on his face when I told him about myself and it was just priceless, I just hope you deal with it better than he does because you're going to learn about it eventually, I wouldn't worry over him, he'll come around eventually when he works out the kinks in his brain as what I told him was probably quite a shock … is that Mongolian beef I smell".

"Don't change the subject, what did you do to Itch Belladonna" Charlie didn't listen sometimes, she told him she told Itchy about herself and here she goes being ignored "I gave him a large mental breakdown and considering the facts, you and Sasha are going to have some breakdowns of your own too when the whole story gets out, oh how I love messing with people sometimes and this time it's rather innocent fun".

A while ago some distance away standing on top of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridges highest points staring at the city was a green feathered figure looking at the gleaming spires of rock and melted sand, a pang of loss swept through the figure as it stared at the moving cars that passed underneath, some color had returned to her eyes.

Bird had been touring the city for a while, still not sure whether or not she should drag her along as she might end up getting either half hurt in feelings or in her travels, but they were autonomous of each other which even if they equal one they were still two of her now, she had heard of such things before but now that she had actually come to be a witness to a twin soul and it was her best friend; rethinking what she just thought, she decided to reiterate that it was her best friends that were now on her mind and technically they would eventually be more then friends but that was for another time and it couldn't happen until she had her voice back anyway.

The one that called herself Belladonna apparently came for her and never stopped trying to find her, which was evidenced by the fact that she now had her emotions back and she was driven slightly to tears for a bit but she had to be on her own for a while as all her emotions raged at once when combined with the blank logical memories that had no emotions put to them, not only that she had to deal with the fact that she emotionally knew that all her senses weren't in working order or more importantly the ones centering around touch which encompassed everything but sight were now messed up until she could calm herself down to control herself.

Her logical half just had to be drawn to that stupid crystal, which unfortunately touching it made her emotions ram into her head like a freight train and while she had garnered an unceasingly large amount of mental anguish dragged into her she still couldn't feel physical sensation or work her voice, but at least with two parts of herself in full working order she had at least managed to somewhat stabilize her situation on her own power now.

Hearing was the first thing easily restored from the emotional scrambling but it took some work, but that was all her logical mind could fix in the first place when she didn't have her emotions her sense of taste is connected to touch and so was her sense of smell and the only reason why should could hear is because she can feel vibrations of energy and work it out in her mind as baseless sound, approaching danger, calm movement or auditory vocalization through a rather interesting system her mind worked up while her emotions were away, she had to admit she had learned a lot but she couldn't feel happy now as she was horribly depressed about everything, she was glad her logical portion put a quick lockdown on her suicidal thoughts from all that she did while she didn't have her emotions.

She didn't know what to do honestly her emotions were all over the place, she was happy to still be alive and know that Donnie or at least one side of her cared to find her promising to restore her to normal working order, she was miserable at still having chunks of herself missing and about what the other half of Donnie thought about her return, her anguish at some of the things her mind had done under the idea of what she would have done from her memories worked to a extent but some of those things were downright horrible if it wasn't so necessary at the time.

Her feeling of accomplishment was somewhat there as she had in all rights managed to survive entirely off one facet of herself through a ridiculous amount of artificial stopgap keeping her alive longer than anyone else would have in the same position, which was brought down by her anger at herself for letting this kind of thing happen in the first place as she wasn't there to save Donnie from whatever it was that happened to her after she was torn apart.

One of the bigger emotional impacts was mostly for Donnie coming to her aid and she actually clung to that one desperately to ignore how much damage her psyche was actually in, the fact that even her mind recognized that she had done so much stuff she'd knew she'd later regret was nothing short of surprising that she wished that she'd logically prepared herself for this, but that was asking a little too much of her tired and battered mind now that her emotions were beginning to soak up damage even if it was only the mentally exhausting kind for the first few days.

She'd feel better eventually and she must be hungry as her stomach was empty and there were no chemical reactions coming from there, she should probably scrounge for something to eat and she can't even begin to imagine what will happen if her ability to physically feel anything comes back, her voice was the lightest amount of damage dealt to her when the incident that ripped her up and dropping her into Dimension X yet again happened, she was really beginning to get annoyed with how many times she's actually crossed paths with that dimension and she was glad she had any emotions to be annoyed with.

Otherwise life was fan-fucking-hellish-tastic considering she felt she'd never survive worse, in any case now that she could operate her energies into doing more powerful things and didn't need to absorb energy to live or a stabilizer to stop from dying, but for now she was still trying to answer the question of where to go from here, because obviously she wants answers for whatever happened to Donnie, where in the world the rest of her was, how was she going to deal with the maddening effect of having emotions yet no physical senses to enjoy anything with and how to deal with yet another oncoming mental migraine as she can't get headaches as she is right now or she could but she couldn't feel them happening.

With all these thoughts buzzing around her head Bird leapt off the Golden Gate Bridge and while she wasn't able to fly due in part to the fact unlike normal birds her species had more solid bones, she could still glide and even if its a shaky glide it's still something even with the inability to feel the air currents surrounding her body, her species had only one capable of true flight and that was the carrier of the artifact something she left behind for someone else when she chose to travel the world, she couldn't feel the wind hitting her eyeballs but she knew she still needed to blink, her subconscious was amazing in its regulations of her body up to this point.

She landed on top of a building and looked around to see if there was any good trash she could go through, she wasn't above eating garbage but right now she needed something particularly healthy which made her wish she kept some corn with her when she left the suburban areas with Grape Donnie, she also should have made a corn spear which would have been better than nothing as a weapon but at the time her mind didn't think it was worth the energy or effort to maintain one and at this point in time she agrees with its assessment but now she had the ability to actually upkeep a weapon of any kind, she had her idea's but it wasn't spear shaped at all.

After searching around for a while she notice a familiar looking dog carrying Chinese food and smiled, she had forgotten where the guy lived and she was pretty sure Donnie was still there… oh right, now she remembered one of the Donnie's was absolutely insane and it was from recently using 'that' ability, when in fact the 'frozen heart' ability would have been more useful as it is better against more opponents whereas the 'burning blood' was more of a one on one deal, but given the circumstance Belladonna probably can't use that ability anymore so she had to fall back on 'burning blood', also she seemed to be horribly out of practice despite the fact that she still swiftly responded to her presence when she finally got back to Earth.

But that still didn't account for the other Donnie named Annabelle and why she didn't immediately come running or why she had the necklace she gave to them both as a collective whole, not to mention the color of their fur was still quite bizarre, but who was she to judge by color she had green feathers with hot pink tips and hardly noticeable orange coloring around the centers, that was par for the course that the rest of her race had oddly colored feathers as well as there was no set precedence when it came to the random colors they came born in, dalmation was a particular favorite pattern of hers and she was sad that she only got a standard three color.

Shrugging to herself she silently followed Charlie and came across a female dog while trailing him by about a block, Bird had guessed that stopped Sasha in her tracks because she saw her following Charlie.

"You, I've been looking all over for you and you don't know how many strange looks I got for describing a big green bird with pink and orange highlights, huh wait a minute where are you going" Bird recognized her as well as the other dog, but motioned for her to follow as she continued to trail after Charlie and it took the other dog a moment to notice Charlie but decided to follow along wondering why Bird was following Charlie around or being secretive about it, she also wondered why Bird seemed less blank then usual but she just wrote it off as a trick of the light.

"Is that Mongolian Beef I smell?" Belladonna's voice with a hint of perkiness rose up in trying to avoid whatever it was she had done to Itchy, both Bird and Sasha waited on the other side of the door listening to what was going on and Bird gave a grin, that was pure Donnie for you, she never stopped making messes "You are aware that you're friends with an evil person right?"

Bird gave Sasha a blank shrug before she knocked on the door, well no time like the present after all Donnie just admitted to messing with that guys friend now she would make a perfect distraction like usual and pull Donnie's fur out of a fire even if it was a nonlethal situation, she sounded to be in better health and sanity at the moment, but the other one was not here at the moment as far as she could tell then again it was to be expected given the side effects from her ability should have worn off long ago as they would of made her slightly reclusive for what they did.

While Charlie went to answer the door, Belladonna like an inchworm quickly made her way over to the Chinese food and through careful use of her tongue and jaw she manage to pry the right box open and headed to town on the juicy meat inside while Charlie was distracted.

"Sasha, you found her… where was she?" Charlie asked happy to see Sasha was okay, she could take care of herself but he did worry sometimes "Following you after you got the Chinese takeout which looks like someone's already getting into it".

Charlie quickly turned around ignoring Bird passing by him going to a corner of the room to sit down, mostly to watch Donnie eat while still tied up in a straitjacket and she noticed a funnel nearby… she smiled at that as she remembered the horrors that were wrought by trying to feed her friend while she was insane, those were strange yet happy memories of long ago, she wondered if Belladonna; being only half of who she was, still did the Napoleon thing.

"Hey" Charlie said looking to Belladonna who pulled her mouth out of the beef and gave a rather sheepish toothy grin before she belched loudly and didn't bother to excuse herself "I'm good, you guys can have whatever you want Chucky".

"You ate all the Mongolian Beef" Charlie said dryly checking the now empty container as Donnie didn't look apologetic in the slightest with her vibrant smile "Your name wasn't on it and you shouldn't let food get out of your sight… say were you around when I went Napoleon?"

The powerful shudder Charlie gave made Belladonna happy, oh yeah Charlie was definitely around for the Napoleon act and he was obviously very disturbed by whatever might have happened at that time, Bird just smirked to herself as her internal question was answered by another question.

"Napoleon" Sasha asked in a questioning tone as Charlie paled even further "Don't ask, let's just say Belladonna won at Waterloo and would have actually been better as Joan of Arc".

Bird stood up and walked into a nearby bathroom and proceeded to wash her wings, then walked out shaking them dry of water before looking at what they had to eat, she figured the lack of energy in her body meant she needed something to eat so she looked at the Kung Pao Shrimp, she took two feathers and rapidly jabbed them into the food chunking it up then she scooped out half of it into Donnie's empty container and took half the rice from another contain and started mixing it and making sure that it was chunked up enough so she wouldn't unknowingly choke to death.

She can't feel physically, she can't taste, she' can't smell and she was beginning to feel at a loss for what to do next now that she was able to handle the emotional fallout of all that she did to get here or maybe she was deluding herself that she was handling it that well, now she had to find the rest of herself… what would she need, she knew she'd be here until all the questions about what happened to Donnie between her absence and now so she had plenty of time to think instead of wandering aimlessly as she figured one of the two Donnie's would suggest.

"Yeah and the entire thing was videotaped, I still have the tape stashed away and everything" Belladonna was being the life of this meal time by regaling the two with a story about the few times she was driven to insanity, but then she looked towards Bird instantly shifting her eyes to glowing solid blue to look at Bird and whistled gaining Birds attention.

"SO THAT WAS WHAT I THOUGHT IT WAS, I've been following a heart Bird and it was yours, but before I think anything of it any change in your situation" The dog watched as Bird waved shyly at her with a smile and then turned it into a full blown smirk as she started swallowing her kung pao shrimp, since she couldn't taste it she had to sense whether she had anything in her mouth or not, but once it was past her throat she stopped caring.

"So you're e back to normal" This was shot down by Bird's frown and grabbing her right shoulder with her left wing looking solemnly away from her and Donnie continued to try and put a positive spin on it "Yeah I was hoping for too much there… so you're emotions are back at least right?"

Bird rolled her eyes and shrugged in Belladonna's direction smiling a bit, causing the mauve dog to beam in happiness now all she had to do was figure out their next course of… Bird was touching her now, she had carefully moved her wing to tap Belladonna's neck and the dog stared blankly off into space before frowning.

"Yeah well I guess now is as good a time as any, but I guess we'll wait for Annabelle to show up and for the Tramp and Lady to finish their food, how's the Lo Mein you two and when can I get out of this straitjacket" No one bothered to untie Belladonna, so Bird took the initiative to unwrap her from the jacket to let her stretch her legs out and use the bathroom "Finally, it's about time someone helped the sane dog".

Itchy throughout all this had been standing still staring at the wall while Charlie and Sasha blushed about Belladonna's comment towards them as they were sharing the Lo Mein, he was still out of it after hearing that Belladonna and Annabelle were both the same person but were so vastly different in personality.

Bird studied the dog and waved a wing in front of his face, no reaction and Belladonna came over and sat down next to her after having finished her business, Bird continued inspecting Itchy while she continued to eat her shredded Kung Pao she turned a blank yet intrigued look to Belladonna knowing this was her doing.

"Do you want me to break him out of the trance" Bird just stared at Donnie and knew what was coming but she nodded anyway just to get a move on and finally get to discussing what in the world happened while she was gone.

Inspecting her target Belladonna lifted one of Itchy's ears then proceed to inhale before she gave a keen high pitched whistle that only dogs and some creatures could hear, Bird could feel the vibrations shoot through her as she watched Itchy became startled and slammed straight into the wall face first before turning around and trying to climb up the wall backwards while pointing a paw at the toothily smiling deviant.

"YOU… YOU… YOU'RE… YOU… YOU ARE ANNABELLE AND SHE'S…" Itchy was still trying to come to terms as a voice interrupted by making a gentle cough getting everyone's attention to the pink winged Whippet appeared from the glass window that was now standing amongst the group.

"I'm Anna Belle Donna and she's Anna Belle Donna, it's true we used to be one person, but not anymore we're not" Annabelle looked sadly to all the other dogs in the room and Belladonna just had to get the last word in edgewise "Well speak of the Angel, that or it was the whistle that got you down here, ready to discuss everything, I'm going to tell Bird everything regardless of what you say".

What followed was news to everyone about how involved in their lives the purple mutt actually was, except Bird who was interested in learning what's been going on and why the purple Donnie became a dark angel.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: see previous disclaimer dude.

"Where to begin… hmm… how about when we were a young lonely dog and taken in by Cooler" Belladonna said, recalling her past while Annabelle joined in the memory "In any case our parents; who were good people Annabelle don't worry about it, they were in fact murdered three months after our birth and no Bird I'm not going to discuss who murdered them now, gently remove your wing from my back and let me continue"

Belladonna was getting tired of all the interruptions, considering Annabelle had gasped that she learned something about their parents and the fact that they were murdered tried to speak up and then there was Bird who wanted nothing more than to know who did it instead of focusing on her own problems, which is why Belladonna liked Bird honestly.

"For a small amount of time we as in I was out on the street and was taken in by a group of talking dogs that hid their nature spectacularly from humans, they were the Pound Puppy Organization taking in little strays like me and raising them to the point where they can handle being on their own or they find a family and although I didn't know it at the time the Bone of Scone was involved" That caused everyone to blink as Belladonna stopped to go to her cloak hanging on a stand and pulled something from within, it was a non descriptive bone and only those who could see certain things would be able to tell the difference.

"This is why the Pound Puppy Organization could talk to humans, on an unfortunate side this bone tends to lead to bad situations unless a person knows what they are doing manages to take control of it, they'll cause a disaster and mess up all species communication" Belladonna started pacing the room with the bone held in her paw.

"But I didn't know of this bone until later when Bird told me what it could do recently that I remembered how often this thing actually crossed paths with both me and maybe Annabelle, but that is unimportant right now, as I was saying we were raised in the Pound Puppy Organization where after we grew up some maybe a year or two at the most, it after that when we were discovered by Bird and I'm not about to forget that day" Both the alternatively colored dogs stared off into space with wistful expressions when Charlie spoke up "What happened?"

"We or should I say I met Bird, she was practicing her gliding as her species is not known for true flight and she slammed into me, to say I was surprised that she was wandering around the planet on her own with how young she was doesn't quite say it, but we quickly struck up a unbreakable friendship and I left the Pound Puppy Organization to follow Bird around, she might have been young but she was damn smart for her age and she taught me about the four paths of energy" Insert quick explanation from Annabelle who took up questions of the four paths involving Heart, Spirit, Mind and Body "Anyway if you guys are quite done, we saw many wondrous things as well as learning how to be a necromancer, we were exceedingly good at being spirited and it was around the time that I hit adult hood that I stopped aging completely, not that that was a bad thing and Bird she stopped aging long before I reached adulthood, but I remember her younger form was quite appealing and her feathers were of a different color back then but now she's settled into her permanent color scheme"

"Ahem, you are getting off track Belladonna, can we bring it up to speed such as when we became two and lost Bird in the same day" Annabelle said as hearing all the heartfelt affection in Belladonna's voice made her wilt "Look puff butt, it's okay, I know how you feel because I am you and it was the day that Bird was separated from us that we had been put into a similar situation however unlike Bird who looked like she died when she had been metaphorically ripped apart, we ended up in limbo and going through a painful Mitosis process where our combined spirits spilt us down the center, quite literally as the attack on us three hours after Birds was nowhere near as lethal but we were still too out of our mind at the time to defend ourselves"

"Imagine my surprise when I had her head growing from the other half of our face" Annabelle said stoically as Bird imagined the original Anna being ripped into to two separated half's that were somewhat equal in ability, of course it sets in a particular nasty feeling once you realized how horrific that might have been to go through while awake.

"Now to tell you something important Annabelle do you know why I went the way I did, of course after I did I had no inkling to what happened to you while I filed for position as Dark Angel in the underworld" The look of confusion and the shake of her head Annabelle didn't know why Belladonna went there "Because when we split in half, our abilities were split in half but strengthened for the areas we took with us, as you very well know I took our long range energy projection abilities and Psycho Burgundy with me, not to mention our ability to sense Birds presence with it"

Now those facts made Annabelle snap and slam Belladonna against the wall which led to the yell of "WHAT!"

"Whoa calm down Anna, you lost all ability to sense things at a long distance range when you took all the close range fighting techniques with you as well as some other things we're not going to discuss in the open, we really need to take the time to relearn each other's abilities and I've been out of practice… but then again I'd wager so have you" Annabelle winced by letting Belladonna go and she smirked with the victory "Well yeah, I sensed Bird in the Underworld so that's why I left you sitting in between worlds, makes me wonder since neither of us died how did you get the angel job Annabelle because I chose to put myself in the underworld on purpose searching for answers to what that bizarre feeling was when I know I saw what happened to Bird here and whether you like it or not the Underworld has a huge information network".

"I was picked up by a passing female golden retriever angel who saw that I was lost and alone and eventually I got a job as an angel" Well this was a surprising tidbit of history between the twins, only to be made more surprising when Belladonna opened her mouth to retort "Yeah and you cried your heart out when you couldn't find me when I was twenty feet away behind you watching you go to sleep after not being able to find my name on any registry in the Overworld, you still had Birds necklace and well I could have taken it and somehow used it to track Bird but I didn't, instead I slept next to you that night to make sure you had a warm body next to yours as I felt some kind of pity for you back then".

Annabelle just looked at Belladonna who smirked but there was nothing negative about it, Annabelle started to feel a twitching building up inside of her.

"In any case I kept tabs on you while I was busy with quite a lot of other things, like meeting Rita the Silver Song one of my Overworld contacts… that is after she died a silent peaceful death along with her mate Runtinski both whom I met before then on an odd excursion in my stint as a dark angel, that's not important and what is important is that that cat kept me together and on track and one of the times I checked in on you is when you met… him" Charlie looked surprised that Belladonna was pointing him out "It was during the Anne Marie Case that I crossed paths with the Bone of Scone, as it was incidentally thrown into the sewers after a little girl tripped and spilled her blood on it and given that it's a necromancer kind of artifact…"

"It activated…" Annabelle said as she realized the implications immediately as some Necromancy arts tended to use blood which carried chunks of the user's spirit to do incredible things, the binding blood trick was still used nowadays but it often required the user let their blood regenerate before doing it more than twice in a row.

"Thus giving sweet little orphan Annie a big headache of a problem which led to Carface abusing her abilities to intercommunicate between all form of species, how the bone got there was something I was never able to figure out as it belonged to the Pound Puppy Organization didn't know what it did at the time but I knew it's name, its mine now" Belladonna stopped here to let everyone catch up on what this meant before she continued "Then Annabelle screwed up with Charlie who was recently killed by his business partner by a car being flung into some water while he was drugged and boozed out of his mind, of course I was there when she screwed up so I decided to get involved a little".

"When did you ever get involved with Anne Marie, I never saw you anywhere near Charlie or Itchy" As The angel dog said this Sasha for one was out of the loop on this one and didn't understand what was going on, nor did she know how Charlie became a guardian angel in the first place if he died like that, but she looked to Belladonna for an explanation as the dog was obviously blasting out the truth along with Annabelle but she wasn't the only one confused as Bird didn't know the story either "I was doing some little things while you weren't watching and just so you know Charlie, Annabelle was the one that pushed you toward the giant big lipped singing voodoo gator and I thought your reaction to that was hilarious, not to mention it was where I saw the Bone of Scone as the King Gator owned all the bones in the suspiciously spacious sewers and his cronies tribal mice must of brought it in at some point, but I didn't get it at the time".

Charlie just stared at Annabelle who winced slightly and looked away while trying to whistle innocently, unfortunately under the circumstances it failed spectacularly as both Charlie and Itchy just looked at her and knew she was guilty of that, though Itchy had to wonder why Annabelle would make Charlie go near a singing alligator.

"In any case all I did was say 'you can never come back' in a creepy voice that Annabelle would be proud of since I can imitate her voice perfectly as well as take on her color scheme at any time I wish and then there was the nightmare with the boat load of imps, you know the one I'm talking about Charlie, after you helped feed all those poor puppies that Flo looks after, of course the illusion on the horizon was just icing on the cake" Charlie started sweating that nightmare called up some bad memories of him being on a wooden Viking like boat floating on lava and all those imps scrambling all over his body and the dragon thing, he never had a nightmare as creepy as that one but now that he thought about it the dragons wings did look familiar now.

"Flo, who's Flo, is there something you guys aren't telling me and where did all this happen" Sasha wanted to get into the conversation and possibly figure out what they were talking about and who should talk but the center of attention herself "Oh right this all took place in New Orleans, years ago and Flo was a church dog who took care of Charlie as a friend nothing more or less, though she did try to set him straight on multiple occasions and actually managed to achieve something to that effect when he got Anne Marie a family she always deserved because Charlie managed to pull his head out of his butt".

"…" Bird was asking Belladonna a interesting question and she responded to it without anyone knowing what it was as Birds wing settled on her "Well yeah I kind of found it later after seeing it in the sewers, but at least I had the decency to wash it off when I did, but that involves the Gabriel's Horn case when I finally decided to grab it as it kept showing up wherever I sensed you to be, it just happened to be your heart in the form of a crystal Red was holding on to, where lots of things happened in quick succession and before we get to that we're going to lay on the table what happened in the Anne Marie case first, Annabelle if you will"

"Fine, Anne Marie was a young orphaned girl who if Belladonna was right gained the ability to talk to animals of all kinds because she accidentally had a run in with the Bone of Scone artifact that has an intercommunication ability, where she was taken in by Carface Caruthers and her ability was primarily abused in gambling on races, she was taken in by Charles soon after who actually thought of her feelings after a while and come to care whereas Carface spent the entire time trying to kill Charles again, after some mishaps and crazy adventures he faced down Carface's gang to rescue Anne Marie and sacrifice his life to give her a future at an oil platform after she is once again acquired by Mr. Caruthers, who was eaten by the King Gator which I admit was my fault to begin with in an attempt at giving Charles a shove in the right direction" Annabelle missed out on several key features while dryly admitting to dropping Charlie into the dangerous gators lap, but Belladonna decided to bring them up.

"Charlie came back to life after getting killed because Annabelle allowed him to perform a spirit recovery with a Lifetime Watch which is a metaphor for rewinding his death, he joined up with his friend Itchy who was right in thinking he had died and they discovered Anne Marie and as Annabelle stated had many misadventures together, Itchy was the more straight lace guy but tended to defer to Charlie often he was left to watch over Anne Marie who was rescued from the oil platform in the fight with Charlie and Carface, she was rescued by Killer a dog who actually has a few secrets that even Carface who has him as a sidekick doesn't know about considering he disappeared shortly after, Itchy lived a good long life until he got done in by a chicken bone, thus bringing us to the Gabriel's horn incident where once again Anna dropped the ball and proves without a doubt that she's not good at her job, when she was given jurisdiction over the San Francisco area of California".

Annabelle looked down her tail tucked between her legs and she sulked in the corner, Belladonna wrapped an arm around and pulled her into a companionable hug which she accepted slowly if in a bit of a sour manner, Bird just stood there watching Belladonna comfort Annabelle while trying not to seem to care about her, yeah they both were the same dog if a little different now, well Annabelle still had wings prodding out of her back so there was one big difference, she walked up to Belladonna and gave her a tap, causing Belladonna to look at her.

"Oh right, Carface, he's this pipsqueak of a bulldog who killed Charlie and later stole Gabriel's horn of opening from the Overworld which was planned out by Red easily enough, the Overworld really needs to check its phone booths better, I've tapped them and it still hasn't been noticed" Annabelle looked to Belladonna sourly and sighed dropping her anger "It figures you were involved in that somehow, I just don't when you interfered in that fiasco Belle".

"Well I know for a fact that Charlie got bored with the Overworld, but then again he doesn't know that polygamy and sex are free practice as well as same sex marriage along with a ton of other stuff which is explained in the Overworld vacation pamphlets about nothing being wrong and there being a place for everyone, the food was good and it has some of the best views, it's a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to stay there as they don't allow too many really dark thoughts or evil entities" Insert sweat drops all around as none of them knew that the Overworld was a vacation spot, but apparently Belladonna has done some relaxing there.

"On a much more serious note Killer, the weird male dog with the effeminate kind of nature is a neutral…" Annabelle blinked at that bit of news before gasping "You mean… he's a contract person for both Over and Under worlds, no wonder he's existed for so long"

"Yep, he's not a bad guy at all though he is a little cruel at times, when he wasn't around Carface he was doing his real job, he also happens to like machinery and is a pyromaniac, but there is more to that then anyone could have guessed" Belladonna then patted Annabelle on the back reassuringly but the angel dog didn't feel that reassured "Anyone has any questions before we move on to all the stuff that happened during the Gabriel's horn mess with that kid David?"

"Yeah a few, first who is or was Cooler?" Charlie was having a hard time following all this, he wasn't the brightest dog on the block, but he is one of the most cunning "A Jack Russel Terrier and leader of the Pound Puppies Organization, for a while at least, he's long gone to the sands of time but his legacy still lives on and he helped raise what used to be us, of course I learned to lie, cheat and steal from Bird but that's a different story and not relevant to the situation".

"Oh… how many times have you actually seen that bone before acquiring it" Belladonna looks at the bone she was still holding in her paw before regarding Charlie "When I was with the pound puppies in my youth Annabelle can vouch as we were still one dog then and too young to know what it did, a few years after Bird was taken from us and we were split apart when… anyway I've seen it a few times without really knowing what it did in unimportant places, then it ended up eventually in the sewers while I was following Red who I was tracking to stop him from usurping me and I was successful but he still managed to pick up some curious stuff, like the bone for one and later when I finally managed to acquire it which was a year or so ago when I came close to finding out about what might have become of Bird, it was later that I learned of this artifact's abilities from Bird herself and what it does that I discovered why it seemed so familiar and that crystal that gave Bird her emotions back was involved because the Bone of Scone ended up in all the same places I saw it by coincidence except with the P,P,O and so when Red had acquired it I was once again following that feeling I felt long ago, apparently Red found that crystal after our incident had happened years ago and that's why I only got a whiff of it and tossed myself into the Underworld in the first place he was carrying that around trying to figure out what it was, he got even worse with keeping it safe from me when he found out I was after it and by then I was already higher than him in the ranks".

"I've got one question if you wouldn't mind, you did all this because you wanted that crystal and Red was standing in your way to it" Belladonna looked to Itchy who finally came to grips with himself after all this "Yeah and the only source of comfort of knowing what happened to Bird was in a bone I've had for more than a year having been set on top of a crystal a few time that happened to carry her signal that Red had kept from me for so long when he left his fake curio shop where I finally nabbed the bone, but not what I was after and that wasn't the only reason I did this, it was also to let Charlie know what I'm going to do to him next if he abuses Annabelle's friendship anymore, she may be a puffy slow brained ditz, but she's my puffy slow brained ditz that I will be the only one to give a bunch of crap to". (What she was going to do to him was Psycho Burgundy, that attack hurts dude!)

"We actually deserved that crap Belladonna; I think I can understand why you took a dark angel position now" Annabelle didn't like the cheeky grin she was getting from Belladonna; Sasha looked between them wondering "Why?"

"Well someone needed to set you yahoo's straight, Itchy doesn't do a good enough job on his own because he's meek, got him to stand up to me when I put Charlie on trial, Charlie is a conniving sweet talker so I gave him a taste of his own medicine through the use of meat if you remember well enough not to mention I gave him a certain cat headed dream, oh good times and Annabelle because she needs to get her head in gear so I actually got her close to threatening me with unleashing a Homicidal Hyacinth by telling me to cool down while dropping snow flurries on me if you remember that thing at Christmas but I admit was going a little overboard at the time as I tend to do on a few occasions" Charlie snorted loudly so that Belladonna could hear it "A Few?"

"So I tend to overdo things sometimes, but you can't say that it didn't work other than making Carface a lobotomized Pillsbury Doughboy it was all in someone's best interest not entirely mine mind you, but yeah it was fun to do and I actually had good reasons to, like when I separated Charlie and Itchy, then got Annabelle to take notice of it and then that kid got turned into a dog with the miracle, all that was priceless like my attempts to turn Charlie" Nobody questioned her on that point because she was right, but then again she was talking about things that she couldn't have known about but did because she was there.

"Wait what…" Charlie just understood the last thing she said and stared at her, she's done far more then he had first thought and it was no wonder she could talk him into things, because she's been watching him and messing with him for so long "If you for once thought I seriously wanted you on my side of the fence, then you truly are an idiot barking up the wrong tree and I don't care all that much for idiots unless its Bird, but then again I'm completely biased in that regard and I can hope it's the same for Annabelle, even if Annabelle tried to move on with her life she never forgot or let it stop hurting which is why she was always so worried about everything going on around her, it makes her so deliciously weak and it was our best friend so it was understandable as to why she is like that".

"Now onto the next facts of life, the Gabriel's horn incident, my involvement was about the same this time around with just supporting Annabelle in getting Charlie horse to do the right thing and stop limping, I was tracing Carface's calls and as I said I had the phone booth tapped" Belladonna was interrupted by Itchy all of the sudden "But how did you get into heaven to tap the phone booth".

"Easy, I'm not restricted to the Underworld or Overworld at any given time and if you remember I did get into the Overworld to try and make Charlie seem like a slacker of a guardian angel after I set him up for a fall in that trial, wherein you helped him out after a small amount of doubt, because on some of those things I was completely correct when I talked about Charlie being a complete dumbass" It was around this time that Charlie noticed something amiss with Belladonna's speech patterns "Hey why aren't you calling me and Itch, Chucky and Scratch?"

"Because it was about time I dropped all the fun nicknames, unless you want me to call you Chucky then that's okay with me" Charlie quickly withdrew his question and said no thank you to the smiling purple furred dog "Well then on to our next topic of the horn, which summarily I found out was to be stolen by Carface, but I was a little late in getting there so it kind of locked the door on my entrance into the Overworld; the dog section of San Francisco to be specific, so I was stuck in pushing events in the right direction or at least trying to after the horn had been taken to a police station, I didn't want to be the one caught with it or else Annabelle would have thought I had stolen it, by then I've already kept sending trouble like a laser guided missile into Annabelle's face while Charlie was entirely ignorant to the fact, that was why Annabelle was so busy on many a occasion of course and when it came to thinking Carface was reformed I have to wonder what was running through what looks like my scrawny ass's brain when he finally stole the horn under Reds orders."

Annabelle didn't frown but she didn't smile either, she kept a straight face as she remembered that she also had done a few questionable things like switch around Itchy and Charlie spirits from their bodies, not that she was going to say anything but she was a mess that day and she probably thought up something of the likes that Belladonna would do not that she'd ever admit it out loud in front of her other half.

"Now if I can talk without interruptions, wait till I get the entire story out." Belladonna put the bone back in her purple cloak and started pacing the room while thinking about how things went down.

"If one were to follow events it'd go like this, after Charlie managed to score the job and primarily ended up taking Itchy with him because Annabelle actually has some brains in her sweet cotton candy filled skull, they came down to Earth to what should have been a simple snatch and grab job on the Overworld's emergency broadcast system, where they only needed one toot of the horn to finish as they caught up to it getting taken into the police station later, but given who Charlie is he doesn't do easy and the biggest complication to hit the fan appeared".

"It was none other than the person Charlie saw singing at a bar while still in a non interactive spiritual form with Itchy where Carface was around to set them up for the fall I should know I was there having a few drinks, as I stated I caught wind of him stealing the horn and I was watching him, I was on my third drink when I noticed Charlie and Itchy while not in a physical form were still quite very visible to me and Charlie had been enchanted by the singer known as Sasha here not that she was the only one that can turn heads, I just had to roughly turn away a few before they got the idea I wasn't interested also if I remember right Annabelle called Charlie that he's been on planet for like thirty minutes or something already shirking his duty looking for a drink while I was sitting in a dark corner watching the circus about to happen, not to mention ANABELLE that you used one of my smirks, I have that toothy sneer on spiritual copyright because of you damn it".

Annabelle wilted under Belladonna's anger; she did remember doing that while using a mug to communicate with Charlie.

"In any case Carface shows up with a ability of physical existence and tells Charlie he knows a guy; now this is why I call Charlie a dumb ass, who in the hell listens to a person that's killed them before and not think that something was up or that there was a catch?" Charlie winces slightly at Belladonna's statement about his intelligence and Sasha just looks at him with a sour look, well yeah being killed somebody in a prior lifespan would send off warnings if you meet them again a little bit later.

"I'll tell you who, a person that became so totally smitten that he'd ignore all signs of imminent danger and actually ends up doing the right thing when anybody else would have ignored the collar and entering the bar entirely, of course Carface and Red were using Charlie to get to the horn as Carface lost the ability to track it when he cast himself out from the overworld and promptly dropped the horn, but Charlie did the right thing none the less… in the end at least" Belladonna couldn't find it in her heart to forgive Charlie for his pigheadedness and Annabelle's willingness to ignore it.

"Charlie has a thing for kids and thought he could help out Sasha, in a odd turn of events this kid was a human named David and I wasn't around at first to see David and Sasha meeting tricks McGee here because I was stuck in middle of a slight hangover, I'm just glad I never throw up after too many rounds as I'm just that good at holding my liquor."

Insert disapproving look from Annabelle and Sasha mulling over facts in her head, Bird had a very bored look on her face as she could care less how much one Donnie drinks as she had a Necromancers ability for handling SPIRITS and alcohol was a pretty good poison, she figured Donnie had her reasons for drinking like that and if she could taste the stuff she would be drinking something herself right now after all the emotional trauma she's been through and is currently trying hard to ignore.

"I was too busy following Red at the time, he apparently went straight back to Alcatraz after closing down shop and I decided to wait things out before I went back to see what Charlie was doing and behold he wasn't doing the slightest thing related to his initial mission and we have powder puff here begging him to get the horn, also he used his one miracle to give Sasha the ability to speak when he could have given David the ability to understand Sasha or animals in general but he went for the cheap kiss the girl moment." (At this point I'm acknowledging chances of plot holes and I will promptly ignore any that I find dude)

Bird and Annabelle gave Charlie a disapproving look, while Sasha was slightly peeved but she didn't hate Charlie for it, it was kind of cute to be kissed by a guardian angel even if he was a rogue one at that.

"In any case David actually does have some power only it's in a minimal human understanding, his feelings were at an all time low at the time but otherwise he could still do what he did as prestidigitation, anyway Charlie really was batting a thousand that day and I was groaning all up to the point they finally went after the horn and as they were at the police building they missed David's parents who were looking for him at the police station and then Charlie being the idiot he is could have easily gotten the horn on his own but like I said he likes doing things the hard the way when he involved David in the breaking in and out of the station, all because he was a horn dog; if you get my meaning, in fact I even tried to direct David's parents but they didn't pay any attention to me, which probably had to do with what I was wearing and Charlie barely escaped on a stolen red scooter where Carface gave chase as well".

"Charlie then gets another collar as after the entire chase scene the first one breaks down automatically like it was posed to, now he could have gone to Annabelle and explained the situation, but instead he let Red have one over on him with the ability to mess with him in astral form and let's not forget he also ended up with having to give the horn to Red due to the collars effects because under normal circumstances Red has no power against overworld spirits, you seriously disappointed Annabelle and she was watching you from the water as you put the horn in a lobster trap while she was off her shift and then tossed your mission and her trust in you out the window, not to mention you didn't trust her with your problems" Belladonna paused and got some water and lapped up a bit, she was getting parched from all this talking.

"Then again Red never specified how long he would be given the horn to hold on to, the horn as once handed to him the battle at Alcatraz Island happened, where I helped Charlie by making sure the collar didn't choke him to death thereby making him unable to support Annabelle who was captured because of his idiocy and not to mention stop him from dying a second time, that was the hard part other then following Red around waiting for him to drop that crystal, he didn't but then again I couldn't let him know I was responsible for his loss, you saw my work when the ground cracked open and dragged him in, after that he was the one that got the spirit imps for Carface as he wanted to get something out of the whole mess".

"The reason why Annabelle couldn't escape when she was captured is because the horn not only opens things, it shuts them as well, as it had shut down any ability for Annabelle to aid you when you fought Red as he started locking good dogs from the overworld into that dank prison, you're just lucky he can't swim otherwise you'd be up a creek buddy, Red out powers all four of you physically and if he wasn't so arrogant he would have won, not to mention Itchy's brave charge saved the day" Belladonna sat down and looked at them "Now I'm done, I've got nothing to add". (Let's see the four actually refers to David, Sasha, Itchy and Charlie, Itchy had a collar on when he charged red when previously both collars dissappeared so Itchy really shouldn't have been able to confuse Red or done anything to help, even if he still had the collar it begs the question as to why Charlie didn't borrow it from him in the canon story dude)

"But what about when you... oops, never mind…" Itchy looked away and he started sweating a little as he now got everyone's attention except Belladonna who was also looking away she was getting tired of talking so much, Itchy certainly remembered something differently than the others and another little odd twist of Belladonna's interference showed up.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: see previous disclaimer dude.

"What happened Itchy?" Charlie asked all of the sudden very intrigued that Itchy knew something that he didn't hear about.

"Fine if you want to know, remember what Belladonna said about me charging Red…" Itchy left that to the air and now Charlie was wondering what that had to do with anything when Annabelle suddenly looked shocked at Belladonna.

"He didn't have a collar until after he entered Alcatraz and someone gave him another one didn't they, as both Charlie and Itchy had collars until they disappeared and only Charlie was only given one by Red" Annabelle was now leering at Belladonna who kept a straight face "Maybe I did and maybe I didn't, but why would I give Itchy a collar pretending to be you."

"Why… why did you give Itchiford a collar, one without any strings attached and not to mention it disappeared not to long after Charlie blew the horn freeing everyone that I thought I might have been seeing things, but… you can't be Belladonna she's an evil witch of a dog, if you are then I would like to have proof to know it's really you because you wouldn't help me out, I refuse to believe that you're… no.." Annabelle had been getting riled up until Belladonna went over to her purple cloak with its hood hanging off a stand and slowly pulled out a whistle like object that suddenly caught Birds interest in a flash and she quickly grabbed it from Belladonna and looked it over before looking to Belladonna with hurt apparent in her eyes.

"It's true queen of the clouds make it rain ash and fire for the kiddies… no wait… that was me, anyway that was my doing, but think of it this way does anyone want to guess as to why I didn't do all that stuff myself at Christmas or the reason why I did not want to blow that whistle" Bird looked at her wondering what she meant, if she did blow this whistle, she wasn't Donnie anymore, she held on to it backing away from Belladonna who didn't think much of it "Well I can see your all confused, except for Bird and Annabelle who knows what I'm talking about as blowing this whistle does have its price for every use and too bad I never told Carface that, of course after his trip in the Overworld his brain cells kind of fried a bit over time, so after he ended up in the Underworld his ass was mine after a short amount of time and I almost got him back to normal after a nice bit of time with Red, not to mention I finally managed to get a contract with Killer"

"But didn't you melt that whistle" Charlie got Belladonna to smile at that and it sure was a creepy one "Heh, nothing is as it seems with me is it, let me tell you, I helped you out first time around because I wanted Annabelle to do a good job and not be an epic failure as an angel and I was busy dealing with Red on the side and had some free time so I figured why the hell not help the incompetent angel, then the entire Gabriel's Horn thing benefitted my goals though unfortunately I didn't meet them and then after that I just started screwing with you cause Red went to ground and I was having trouble finding him, in any case I did all that mostly because of you Charlie"

"What" That was the only reply that Charlie could make as he was confused as Belladonna became spiteful in his general direction "Tell me how it feels to know that your friend is far away and untouchable, tell me how it feels that you might never see her again on a Christmas day then apply it to my situation as I try to finish all my paperwork in the Underworld where there isn't any love or gifts, I needed to do something and given that I needed to keep my job at the time, it had to be big and I really dislike the fact that you ignored Annabelle and you even got her skunked, if anything I despise you for hurting Annabelle multiple times and you never once thought about her feelings in any matter considering how often you ignored her…"

They all just sat there is silence, okay this was probably where it all became apparent and even to Annabelle who looked shocked as she was feeling something for Belladonna, but she was also still confused on the whole issue as to what it was.

"Now if you'll draw your attention to what Bird has in her wing, I believe me and Annabelle know of it as a Dragon's Heart whistle and nothing hoards more stuff than a dragon, the use of this whistle has a barely noticeable but special negative effects, until you use it too much that is, but me and Bird a long time ago managed to get this whistle away from some pretty nasty people, I left it in a safe place which I went back to later after becoming an Underworld operator when I became split up, I'm surprised Annabelle didn't go to retrieve it herself and that she hadn't come down from her high clouds to stop me until after I threatened Carface personally after his heel face turn with destroying the big whistle I made."

Annabelle couldn't check her emotions and she looked away feeling a slight disgust not knowing what she felt before was real or not and Bird looked to her wondering why Belladonna was still carrying this damn thing, as its bad news to keep around but she was glad Annabelle stopped her from doing something so horrid, but she had to know so she touched Annabelle.

"How big was it" Belladonna saw the dark look in Birds eyes and saw the way Birds emotions carried through Annabelle, she sighed and knew this one was coming so she walked up to bird and mumbled something…

"WHAT, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THAT COULD HAVE DONE" Annabelle yelled emotionally charged by Bird and Belladonna cringed and whimpered with her tail between her legs as Bird gripped her by the ponytail pulling her to heel beside her, after a few moments she let go but not before complementing Belladonna with her own voice "I must admit though that was impressive and I amazed you even made an effectively working scaled up model, but you didn't use it did you… because if you had…"

"I swear I never intended to use it myself, but I really had little choice and would have been forced to anyway as they don't take these things lightly in the Underworld, but like I said Annabelle threatened to kill me over it and that absolved me of actually having hurt Killer or Carface as in my Underworld contract when my life comes under threat even with the powers given to me, I am allowed to quit under threat of death and she hinted to using the Homicidal Hyacinth to stop me, so there you go, happy now because I'm certainly not and I seriously wanted to destroy Christmas in a fit of anger as I kept wishing for the same thing every year and never anything else, of course I could have used the whistle to force red to give me that crystal but I didn't and couldn't bring myself to do so" It really didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what she was wishing for as Annabelle herself was wishing for two things to happen and one was the very same wish as Belladonna.

"But it was still used; doesn't that mean it had a negative effect on the person that did use it?" The angel dog had a point but Belladonna actually smirked at this "Of course, but then again it only affected Carface who was under the effects of a temporary miracle at the time and managed to avoid acquiring any more of the negative effects of activating it because of that tidbit, in fact you can check me, Killer and Carface if you don't believe me" And with that Annabelle did with a blink of her eyes and even Bird blinked, both having solid glowing eyes was kind of creepy, Birds were green and Annabelle's blue, after a moment Bird spoke through Annabelle again "Well I can tell your alright and you didn't use the whistle or else you'd be marked by it for having used it once".

"Yes well, Carface is actually still affected by the smaller whistle but that shouldn't have any ill effects at all, right, I had Killer explain the whistle to Carface as a magic dog whistle but then again he was in on it when I hired him so flace plant was none the wiser , only Annabelle was aware of what was going on there" Bird blinked and her eyes were back to their non glowing state which was followed seconds later by Annabelle who sighed in relief before being a puppet once more "Just as long as you didn't personally use it I'm fine and this Carface will just have to live with it unless one of us could remove the effect".

"Like I might have said when Annabelle stopped me, no one crosses me and lives… to get away with it… but yeah Carface only used it once or twice as far as I know" Bird nodded in acceptance and that was a load off Belladonna's shoulder but she knew Bird was going to be sore with her for a while and Annabelle was always sore with her for going to the Underworld in the first place, but she learned to ignore that.

"You also asked me to get out of your line of fire that day, you never attacked me, not even once…" It was occurring to Annabelle that Belladonna never once held any anger in her general direction at all or even tried to hurt her directly.

"Yeah but you were wrong Carface did in fact belong to me, as far as he let himself since I brought him out of the Underworld, but I had hired Killer to watch all the events and to tell the truth should he ever meet a creature of my description being Bird or if Annabelle were to ask him of my plan should she have figured out he was a hired neutral and all, he didn't belong to me as his contract ended after all the fun events were over, but he promised to hold up to the stipulations if either of you were to talk to him, I incidentally left a trail for how to contact him which would become highly apparent should anything happen to me, do you remember what I said about me being bad Annabelle?"

"The fact that you were morally challenged… oh… well that actually explains a lot" They all looked to Itchy and Charlie finally caught on "You had a hobby of messing with Annabelle"

"It was more like constant teasing but yeah, messing with people is something Annabelle does as well but she does it in a different fashion, but she'll never admit it and she can get annoying at times if anything, you should probably know Bird that neither of us died to get these positions so we're still alive, but I'm technically free and I doubt Annabelle will quit her day job, but I wouldn't mind joining in later if I do get killed or just drop dead, but you can't expect me to die that easily or settle down on a bunch of fluffy clouds all day" It was kind of surprising to see Annabelle run up and hug Belladonna who smiled a little but kept it hidden and hugged her back slightly making sure to not be noticeable and it appeared to be a one way affair as only Annabelle appeared to have any emotion in this exchange "I don't expect you to die at all as we're not going to die of natural causes, you're not the only one that digs around for information though I will admit our information networks are not that good but at least we have more information on Necromancers or spirit users than anything else"

"Oh do tell, I'm actually kind of interested to hear what you figured out since the Overworld has a huge population of dogs that were once Necromancers and all things considered the big boss of doggy death has got to be in those archives I've never been able to access… you know who I'm talking about right Bird" Annabelle looked to Bird as she was just informally but gently grabbed by the butt causing her to blush "Anubis the jackal guardian of death the reason why dogs everywhere bury bones, whose family line eventually crossed paths with Bastet's the cat goddess of protection which is why cats are said to have nine lives and also have spirit based abilities as strong as any dogs, what of it".

"Does the name Coyote mean anything to either of you" Bird nodded as well as Annabelle they both heard of that name before in a mythological manner "Good because Charlie here might be a distant relative of the trickster".

"… Well that certainly explains why he's so… interesting… if he has a history like that" Annabelle got a small chuckle out of Belladonna that was lighter hearted then dark in its fallible nature "Well back to that information you had on Necromancers?"

"Yes, well, ahem… apparently when we were split apart we had gained somewhat of an immortal lifespan where previously our aging had just been slowed down to a crawl because of our activities while traveling with Bird, but don't get me wrong we'll still die but I doubt I will given my position, though you probably will and I don't envy that for a second if someone attempts to kill you" Belladonna looked a little remorseful at that bit of knowledge and Bird understood it as missing her other half and regretting the positive effect of being split apart "Yeah well I'm actually jealous that you're capable of sitting still on that puffy yet tight ass of yours, but in any case we've talked long enough and I bet your all sick of hearing from me and all the things I've done, which if anything some are very bad and may never come to light so I'll be out of your hair soon, now if you'll excuse me I've got some traveling to do" Belladonna tried to leave only to be stopped by a voice.

"Still trying to make yourself look tough even when you're not Belle, ha, sure your tough but you've probably only killed those who literally deserved it and your tongue is currently in my hands by the way" Everyone looked to the open window as a silver furred cat stretched out on the window sill with her white feathered wings slowly wiggling beneath her body as she pulled out a nail file and used it on her claws "Sure that Dragon Whistle thing was as bad as Belle ever got to doing something permanent otherwise she's not all that bad, though she nearly ended up killing me and my mate by accident once, she's feared by many dogs as well as other things as 'for whom the bell tolls' Belladonna, but she's mostly been searching for that bird and never gave up looking she was even trying to find Anubis to see if Bird ended up on his list of those who passed over as Birds race tends to pass close to his jurisdiction, sorry but I got a look at that piece of paper from the book that Bird marked her race down in at that dogs house, I was curious to know what she was and it certainly wouldn't kill me to find out".

"Rita what the hell are you doing here you smarmy cat" Belladonna growled as Rita chuckled lightly "Pot calling the kettle black sister, but your reputation still stands so I wouldn't worry about it and I would have gotten you a Christmas gift but I couldn't find what you wanted and I knew you wouldn't accept anything less, in fact I'm here to make sure you don't run away from her as a Christmas gift for all the times I missed, then again you don't follow it as a religious experience that only few people do nowadays, but I'll still owe you one for what you did for my great grand kitten"

"Running… who's running… I don't run from any..." Rita rolled onto her stomach and hopped to the floor in the room and put a claw in Belladonna's face "OH I KNOW VERY WELL WHAT YOU WERE GOING TO DO… you were going to get Bird and Annabelle together weren't you… probably to find the rest of her by yourself, then leave them to their devices while you sulked after you finally managed to restore Bird to her proper form… just because you don't want to get in Annabelle's way since she needs about as much 'friendship' as you do given she doesn't have anyone special at the moment".

Now Itchy, Charlie and Sasha were looking questioningly at the other three in the room, they had been whispering among themselves somewhat heatedly about everything that went on in their lives while listening to Belladonna and Annabelle interact, but this caught their attention and Annabelle's mind finally snapped it into place why she felt something was off and Rita smiled as she had said enough to get the ball rolling for the angel whippet.

"I have no idea what you're…" before anything else could be said Annabelle slammed into Belladonna pinning her to the floor she was ignoring the previous moments of hugging they had before now for wanting to wrestle the truth out of her that Belle did in fact care "Why… why should I deserve any credit, you're the one that sought her out while I tried to move on, you never stopped being faithful to her memory you even mimicked her abilities with the powers you got from the underworld, in fact if I didn't know any better I would swear you've built a shrine to her, newsflash Belle you love her too and you should stop trying to help me and be more selfish, I thought that's what you were good at".

"Excuse me" Belladonna feigned disinterest in the direction this conversation was going, though she did in fact build a holy shrine that burned demons on touch in the Underworld to Bird not that she would ever admit to doing as such, the demons were all confused as to where such a powerful holy shrine to an avian creature came from and what it was doing down there "You know what I'm talking about Belle, ever since I became an angel you've been helping me and you always try to make yourself look like a bad person for my sake, in fact all this recent news points to nothing but me benefitting from all this even while you were working against me and you gave up to easily at Christmas why haven't I seen this till now… you actually like being nice".

"Really, and couldn't it be that I'm just not trying hard at my job" Annabelle just smiled at that and Belladonna just realized what she just said and Annabelle capitalized on it "You quit remember… and you came here with Bird, you probably made a beeline straight for her and from what Itchy and Charlie told Sasha you even did a musical number and sang a song, not only that but then you go and end up using your lost position to lure Red out and to get that other piece of Bird, you either set me up to take him down or it would have eventually led to that situation anyway, even if it was not entirely the way you planned it but you knew I'd rescue Bird under the circumstances, how could I have not noticed before now that you're a good dog at heart… if a little violent and sneaky" Not that it immediately occurred to Charlie or Itchy but what she said here meant she almost constantly kept tabs on them and hardly ever stopped watching them in a paranoid fashion, she was probably more interested in their safety then anything and it was creepy knowing someone is looking over your shoulder when you're not aware of it.

"Probably because I am violent and incredibly sneaky there's nothing little about it, it wasn't my idea to be here as it was Birds and under the circumstance we still would have fought at Alcatraz Island and you would have still been called to be there, it was just that Bird wanted to find that necklace, you know the one you always wear and keep hidden under some obfuscation necromancy" Belladonna looked away with her forelegs crossed and Annabelle see's a pinprick of a drop forming in Belladonna's eye causing her to get a little giddy that Belladonna could still cry and she tapped her chest with a paw and the necklace with the heart locket appeared for the world to see and she opened it looking at it somberly for a moment and then she held it in front of Belladonna's eyes and she breaks out crying into Annabelle's shoulder who gently closed the locket and slowly started caressing Belladonna while smiling.

"Well my work here is done and you can tell me thanks later Belle…" Rita then jumped out the window and flew into the sky causing the other dogs to go to the window sill to see a tiny winged large dog that rammed into the flying cat from the side in mid air and they heard the distinct yell of "RUNTINSKI WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT RAMMING INTO ME LIKE THAT".

The distinct wording afterwards was soft but sounded like 'to not to, unless it involves strawberry syrup and ramming you from the right direction, definitely strawberry syrup and the right direction' which all in all sounded highly perverted when it was followed by a 'darn right there will strawberry syrup'.

"Ahem, I believe that was one of your Overworld contacts" Annabelle said still blushing from her enhanced sense of hearing, she hardly ever came to the surface anymore but even she didn't know that angels did that kind of thing, she should look into the pamphlets Belladonna talked about as she never really noticed any of this stuff going on before, Belladonna wasn't paying attention as she was busy digging her face into Annabelle's shoulder still weeping and Bird just stood by watching before crossing her wings.

Well this was a fine kettle of corn, Bird had to consider that Donnie has killed before not that she cared but she would probably need to again and other then meeting that 'Carface' guy she seemed to have done well for herself, that cat Rita was pretty much a true friend and Belladonna didn't seem to have many after that, of course with Annabelle their positions were more awkward now than ever because they've both been lonely dogs even with their jobs by the way it sounds… of course she realized that what used to be Anna Belle Donna was what she truly loved in a friendly manner and these two weren't even two half's of her … they were both exactly her under different circumstances, but they were still her.

"You never dropped Bird entirely either, you never once bothered to remove that necklace have you" As this was said by Belladonna in a weak voice as she wiped her eyes, she didn't exactly want to see the image of what they once were with Bird or the fact that Annabelle even had a picture of her in there, Annabelle bit her lower lip; she knew it was coming and she didn't want Sasha to hear, oh well might as well let this out "Yes, I never forgot her even when I tried to catch Charle's interest".

"Okay I guess it's my turn to say 'what' in a loud angry voice, well is it" For someone who was supposed to be angry Sasha was taking it really well and taking it even better when Belladonna chuckled and mentioned what Charlie said in the bar "Well Charlie did say and I quote 'now I know what I was missing in heaven' end quote while I was drinking in the bar during the horn caper and he didn't have any idea how right he was to miss a chance at such a fine lady as this here".

"ME AND ANNABELLE… well the thought never crossed my mind if I'm to be serious about this…" Now Itchy understood the whole picture and why Belladonna started messing up Charlie's job as a guardian angel "Charlie I think you should apologize for all the mean things you've ever done to Annabelle, you're the reason why Belladonna has been sniping at us for so long, it was because you hurt her and Belladonna was mostly getting revenge for her sake since Annabelle wouldn't"

"Darn right I'd get revenge for myself, well not exactly myself, but she's still part of me damn it" Belladonna said in angrily protective manner as Charlie tried to placate her by apologizing profusely for not acknowledging Annabelle and what was the kicker was that Annabelle was the one that let him pursue a relationship with Sasha so he definitely had a lot to apologize for to the person that let him stay groundside especially with Itchy as his partner and moral compass in the guardian angel business, Annabelle actually did care about his happiness and he kind of threw that in her face, he felt like a heel and the only reason why he was apologizing so much is because he feared the Bloody Belladonna coming out and ripping him to shreds.

"What I still don't get is how you got Carface away from Red" Sasha decided to stick by Charlie, hey the guy apologizes after he found out how much he wronged a person and it's all fine and dandy in her book then again she thought she could stand to be a little less naïve about their relationship "I really don't need to explain that one as I've been at that dog hating demon cats throat since we've ever met and it's not a long shot to say I've done some tricky maneuvering here and there so just use your imagination as Red wasn't very organized if you couldn't tell by his staggering loss to the three of us even when we were outnumbered, by the way look up Killer and tell him that Belladonna said 'hello'".

"Now if you'll excuse us, we need to move to the roof and continue a private chat between Bird, Annabelle and me as we have a few things to discuss" Belladonna said moving toward the exit followed by the winged dog and the ever strange Bird into the hallway where a human who was slumming in the place rubbed his eyes at the sight of a purple dog, a pink winged dog and a bizarre looking bird walk out of the apartment and up the stairs.

On the roof the three of them stood, Belladonna was back to wearing her vest, collar and cloak with several things nestled inside it's hidden pockets, notably a rectangular piece of technology Bird made before they came here, the Bone of Scone and a picture of Annabelle though it was one more thing she wouldn't ever admit to if tortured.

Annabelle was standing off to the side with the heart necklace that had a picture of what she and Belladonna used to be with Bird and one of Belladonna as she was now.

Bird stood there with her wings crossed regarding the two dogs off to her own side in the triangle they formed, she was wondering what was going to be said next, Belladonna promised to restore her to normal and she knew Belladonna meant it, but the whistle she held right now would be taken care of by her and it was probably safer if she went alone.

"Well I know Bird is probably sore at me, go ahead and destroy the whistle I won't be needing it anymore, Annabelle I'll never say sorry to you and will never apologize for my actions and all I ask is, now what" They stood there silently waiting for one of them to think of something to say while a small explosion happened off to the side as Bird made sure the whistle would never be used by anyone else, what could they say Belladonna was a conniving dog but she wasn't as bad as she tried to make herself appear and Annabelle for one wasn't as good as she tried to make herself appear either "I'm the one that should apologize to you Belle, I've done a few things I'm not so proud of either even while working as an angel but do you want to know what I wanted the most since we were all thrown apart from each other?"

"For things to go back to those simple days when things were better" Belladonna took a shot in the dark and Annabelle nodded, she missed being able to relax but then again she did that when she played with the angelic puppies that went to soon "Well I don't, I want the world to continue to change, I never would have been two different people and I appreciate you as being a separate entity I wouldn't want to be one being again and I'm sure you feel the same way"

"Yes I can understand that sentiment I just needed to hear it from you, though it does make me curious as to what happened to the cape with the high collar" Annabelle noticed Belladonna blanch at hearing about the cape "If anything it's the reason why I have this cloak, that cape chafed and it just didn't say me, it was more of a underworld thing really, you know the entire vampire motif fad" Annabelle noded about the cape and high collar thing as when she wore something similar...

"So are you going to leave me and Bird here to go out and travel the world looking for the rest of her" Bird instantly moved in front of Belladonna with a disapproving glare that followed along with Annabelle's question, Belle's response was more of a worried tone then usual "Look Bird's safety comes first and you should know how dangerous it's going to be and she can hardly control her physical strength as it is, though you haven't seemed to notice it she's trying to haphazardly guess how much force to put behind her movements, I can't think of a better thing to do then leave her in your safe care".

"Donnie I don't like that idea considering it was me who let this happen to both of you in the first place, you stay and I'll go…" Annabelle was once again being the puppet voice for Bird who was very much glaring at Belladonna almost in anger "I'd rather be alone, as I wouldn't be able to trust myself around either of you not to mention protect you from any harm".

"That's very noble of you Bird, but I'm not letting you go alone and if you go I go" Belladonna was staring Bird down "Besides I'd understand if Annabelle stays behind, she's at least made some headway into be remotely happy on her own she can handle being away from you for a while… I on the other hand… CAN'T".

"And I wouldn't like it if either of you were to perish, I know we may have had our differences Belle and I more than anyone can understand how your feeling, but I would have to agree that the only way Bird is going anywhere is if it's you Belle that is following her, I'm patient and I have no problem on waiting for both of you to return safely, besides I like my job and I don't think I have the heart to quit… no pun intended of course but if Bird thinks she's leaving without one of us she's not going anywhere as I'll drop all my power into keeping her locked to the area till she makes a promise, after all we both know her name right Belle" Belladonna smiled and chuckled at the fact that Annabelle actually had a devious bone in her body, Bird on the other hand looked between both of them with a straight face before looking down with a frown so much for her going alone into the wild blue yonder "Yeah, we got her over a barrel though this is going to be pretty interesting, what does her species law state about one being becoming two both of which know her name before it has been carried out?"

Bird maneuvered both Anna and Belle next to each other, then carefully moving her wings unable to feel the muscle tension in them; she hugged them and then translated what she wanted to tell them out loud through her mind.

The reactions were a mixed bag of nuts between Belladonna and Annabelle, Belladonna gained a quirky if ever vicious toothy smile while her mind ran wonders on how this could turn out to be the ever so sweet deal and she expected Anna to protest it… but when Belle looked over to Anna she saw something different then what she was expecting, Annabelle was covering her nose and her face was beet red with blood dripping from between her paws.

"Damn and I thought Rita was a pervert, especially with all that talk about jams and peanut butter" Belladonna mildly commented and Annabelle fell back passing out from a large spray of blood from her nose, causing Bird to get a little worried as she kept a wing on Belladonna "Naw I'm sure she'll be fine, of course I didn't think she had it in her, I guess all Angels are somewhat repressed and it has to come out at some point"

Bird could only nod while staring at the out cold pink angel whippet, she looked to Belladonna and she started weaving a long story about what happened while she was mostly running her mind and unleaded pure energy, with a mild intake of food every now and then after a while, then after she was done she got Belladonna's story and it was around the time after that that Annabelle was coming to when she asked a question.

"Well of course I'm not worried about traveling with you, so you've done some bad things, like it matters what happens in Demented X anyway, the entire technodrome thing and that robot making dictator guy proves that much" Bird put a wing on Annabelle and started to give her the story while she questioned Belle at the same time, while Annabelle listened to the story Belle answered the question "I don't freaking care if you think I should give a damn, nothing changes between us Bird I will follow you regardless and do you know why".

Annabelle was getting a pretty quick download of the story, only started to cuddle Bird and muttering soft things like everything will be okay, while Bird looked sadly to the angel dog trying to comfort her and shook her head negatively that she didn't know why Donnie would still wish to go with her at this point; well the Anna Belle Donna that seemed to have made a killing in Underworld politics with the title 'for whom the bell tolls' Belladonna, when she obviously did care about what she had done… then again she hasn't told Belladonna the whole story.

"Because you care about us and…." Belladonna breathed in she was going to need Annabelle for this and she placed a paw on Annabelle's shoulder giving some silent communication only to her and she calmed down and looked to Belladonna before smiling and she started chuckling before she and Belle moved away from Bird who looked confused, before Annabelle summoned a miracle just for the occasion… hey no one needed one today anyway so a musical interlude was in order, because the music started playing and Belladonna started it off being the lead singer, while Bird rolled her eyes at the miracle wasted for her sake, the thought of it counted.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: see previous disclaimer dude.

The music started out with a beat that strangely sounded angelic in nature, Belladonna didn't seem too displeased with this fact as she was expecting it from the miracle throwing dog next to her, but then again it had to be that song and Belladonna knew why Annabelle chose it, she's was just a puffy butt angel through and through.

_Belladonna "Ooh… yeah… When there's clouds hangin' in your sky and they're just not lettin' any light in and you feel like you'd give in… DON'T YOU give up so soon"_

She practically burst in Bird's face that she was being a quitter; probably another side effect of missing her spirit, and Belladonna didn't want her to be alone and Annabelle stood back with pure simple smile at the way this song was going, even Bird was kind of thrown off guard with Belladonna's resolve as she continued to sing.

_Belladonna "What you need is a friend to count on. What you GOT, baby you got someone. Who will stay when the rain is fallin' and WON'T let it fall on you"_

Bird wondered why Annabelle wasn't getting jealous when she realized that Annabelle was mouthing the words herself and when taken into context, Anna Belle Donna was still one person in the broadest of sense, but the thing about the rain was rather ironic surrounding her species given nature.

_Belladonna "WE'LL see you through. WE'LL cover you with a love so deep and warm and true. Ours will be there, OHHHHHHH HONEY we'll beeee your shelter"_

The sentiment was not lost on her but Annabelle was a little shocked that Belladonna was saying 'we' instead of 'I' as the song was posed to be sung, not to mention she said mine will be there, but that didn't make any promises for Annabelle as she could speak for herself which was strange considering their situation as two separate yet same entities.

_Belladonna "I'll be the one to take you through the night. Whenever you neeeeeed shelter, I'll make everything alright, make everything alright, YEAH…"_

When Belladonna motioned to her, Annabelle started making up lyrics on the spot to fit to the tune as she wanted to sing for herself at this point, darn miracles and their ability to manipulate a person into singing what they feel, of course she can't claim to take Bird through the night she was more of a daylight dog and then there was the fact that she was steeped in her resolve to make everything alright.

_Annabelle "I tried to move on its true, can't say I didn't miss you, I should have tried for you, I love you…"_

Annabelle and Belladonna turned to each other smiling.

_Both "we still do"_

Belladonna thought Annabelle's improvisation was nice and they still shared something of a wavelength between them to think in junction like that.

_Belladonna "We got arms strong enough to hold you. Get you through anything you go through. Anything that you need you know it's only a TOUCH away"_

Belladonna wiggled her butt and backside towards Bird with a devious smile on her face and gave her a wink.

_Both "When your heart needs a heart beside it. Should be OURS it's keeping time with 'coz we got so much love inside it"_

_Belladonna "It BEATS for you every day"_

Belladonna recalled what Rita had said about a dogs long frozen lonely heart and had to smile, that damn cat really got on her nerves but she was sweet as they come when it came to making awkward friendships even more awkward, but she knew she could make this promise so she pushed Belladonna back a bit and she allowed it.

_Annabelle "I'LL be the oneeeee, to give you love when it seems like there's just not enough, ours will be there…"_

_Both "OHHHHHH HONEY we'll beeee your shelter…"_

_Belladonna "I'll be the one to take you through the night…"_

_Both "Whenever you neeeeeed shelter, I'll/she'll make everything alright, make everything alright, YEAH…"_

Annabelle wanted to point out that Belladonna was going with Bird and there was nothing she could do about it, Belladonna did make a promise to get her back to normal if anything.

_Annabelle "I kept this necklace for you, I cried so much that night, since you were gone from sight, my heart bled, I thought you dead"_

_Belladonna "I followed your heart that day, by the underworld it was swept away, Years past since that day, I couldn't give up, I wouldn't stop"_

A bit of music passes as both dogs were mildly shifting to the music, there rumps swinging back in forth to the music they were becoming in tune with each other.

_Annabelle "I'll be your shelter"_

_Belladonna "I'll be your shelter baby"_

Now they were double teaming Bird by moving close to her and she didn't respond to their closeness for obvious reasons but she could feel their emotions at least hitting her own, otherwise her body felt like it wasn't there at all which was ironically the point of her missing that facet of herself, Belladonna may have a deeper tone whereas Annabelle was lighter in tone, but they could matched each other's vocal range perfectly.

_Both "WE'LL see you through. WE'LL cover you with a love so deep and warm and true. Ours will be there, OHHHHHHH HONEY we'll beeee your shelter"_

_Belladonna "I'll be the one to take you through the night…"_

Belle started cuddling Bird.

_Both "Whenever you neeeeeed shelter, we'll make everything alright, make everything alright…"_

_Annabelle "And we'll beeee your SHELTER"_

Annabelle was joining in on the hug now.

_Belladonna "I'll be the one to take you through the nigh-ight…"_

They seperated from Bird and something odd began to happen.

_Anna Belle Donna "Whenever you neeeeeed shelter, I'll make everything alright, make everything alright…"_

For a moment Bird could have sworn she saw what both of them as if they were once one again, before the illusion broke when they both shouted...

_Both "YEAH"_

Bird knew of strange things to happen, but then again she didn't want their two separate halves to lose personality to the one whole that they truly were, they had individuality and to ask them to lose that would be a painful thing to think of, so she wouldn't she would just have to accept that she has the two now that know her true name, but they were projecting a third image, the image again that sung separately from them and that was a real neat trick of the Spirit involved.

_Both "Na na nana na na, na na nana na na…"_

_Anna Belle Donna "NAAAAAA NAANAA…"_

It was like they weren't even aware of it…

_Anna Belle Donna "I'll be your shelter; I'll be your shelter baby…" (In the background both Annabelle and Belladonna were continuing the tune in a chant)_

Of course they were chanting now in unison making their spirits show their true selves as a whole spirit, not only that the Anna Belle Donna between them was twice their size, letting loose the feelings of both whippets, this was a mixture of heart and spirit like none other.

_Anna Belle Donna "I'M… STILL ALIVE… LOVE, I'LL MAKE EVERYTHING ALRIGHT-IGHT… I'LL BEEEE YOUR SHELTER… I'LL BE THE ONE TO TAKE YOU THROUGH THE NIIIIIIIIIGHT…"_

_Anna Belle Donna "DON'T LEAVE, CAN'T GO, NOT ALONE YOU WON'T LOVE… I'LL MAKE EVERYTHING ALRIGHT-IGHT… I'LL BEEEE YOUR SHELTER… I'LL BE THE ONE TO TAKE YOU THROUGH THE NIIIIIIII-IGHT…"_

Slowly the singing faded out and the figure of Anna Belle Donna smiled while mouthing that it would be alright and as she now had two people there would never be one again because of the split, she also mouthed that there would never be a Anna Belle Donna again once she disappeared and that she'd have to settle for the twins, a single tear sprung up in Birds right eye as she bade the phantom of the past goodbye as it split and the energy flowed back into the two separate bodies which had fallen unconscious at the end of the song.

"Ugh what hit me, Bird is everything alright and why are you crying like that" Annabelle said getting up from the ground, followed by Belladonna whose response was no more different but it was rather expected "Okay what happened and why are you so sad, if it was Charlie I'm so kicking his ass for this".

Bird would hug them again but she was afraid they might choke to death or she'd crush their bones and not to mention anything else in their bodies, now was not a time to let emotions do damage randomly, now was a time for her to calm down and feel the bliss of emotional pain even if her physical sense for pain wasn't there, she just set her wings on both dogs back and exclaimed that everything would be alright in her mind in a calm gentle voice as she stared at the sky imagining that the figure of Anna Belle Donna as a normal…. well she was actually the most abnormal dog she ever met, she can imagine the figure looking down on her in the shadow of the stars as it became dark before the lights came on in San Francisco.

Bird told Belladonna that she could go with her, then she told Annabelle that she'd watch over Belladonna and stay alive, she just wants Annabelle to have a home ready for them to come back to, a set spot in the world that was their own to live and maybe invite friends to live with them, she heard Belladonna say Heaven could be a nice spot if she could get them a wonderful view of some ocean front property; but heaven could wait right, in reference to Annabelle waiting for them.

"Well I guess everything is… huh" Belladonna stopped when Bird placed a negative on her train of thoughts and spoke through Annabelle "Not done, you need to train in your lost skills and make up for being out of practice Donnie and Annie will help you with relearning your lost skills, if you can't do more than half the stuff I left you with while I was gone I'm not going to take you with me, also I'm giving you an entire week, because I've seen what you can accomplish in the barest of seven days…"

"Oh a challenge, I'm going to have half my lost skills back before you know it, right fluff butt" Annabelle crossed her legs in front of her chest and glared angrily at Belladonna "We'll see grapevine"

"Says the person who was put through a Taffy machine"

"Biggest Bitch from the Underworld says what"

"What… damnit… biggest prissy angel of the clouds says who"

"Huh why would I ever say who… oh… well you're Birds whipping pet"

"Well I bet you wouldn't mind me whipping you, then we'll see which Whippet is whipped" This caused both of them to blush because Belladonna said it and Annabelle actually wanted that to occur, as she had few sins she needed to get rid of and only a punisher like Belladonna could… 'No bad thoughts Annabelle, very bad thoughts, I'm posed to be an angel and here I am cursing at my… what would we call ourselves now… I guess sisters, anyway I'm not posed to be thinking those things about her' Anna quietly admonished herself before getting that odd thought about what they meant to each other in a sibling role.

Both dogs continued to fight until it came right down to them busting out their Necromancy(read: Spirit dude) powers, Necromancy was termed as a power of life and death because of what's left behind when the body is gone that held the physical form, the spirit and whatever it could carry with it, when a spirit can't rest it's usually because it wanted to do something that it never got the chance to, this would be why resolve is considered the power of the spirit.

Annabelle was pro life obviously but still spirited when pushed judging by the axe blade she just formed on her paw out of solidified energy mostly aiming to maim and not kill, while Belladonna was okay with death in general being humorous in how she dealt with things most of the time by messing with people, they always said the best Necromancer is the one with a sense of humor and the spirit to show people what they were made of, if Belladonna couldn't show what she was made of then Bird would be slightly disappointed and give Belladonna another week.

A whole week had passed and a lot of things had happened in that expanse of time, Annabelle had become more cuddly around Belladonna, Belladonna mellowed out and stopped acting wicked… well almost stopped acting wicked; she still can't help but mess with everyone around her, the only one she never targets is Bird and should Bird get caught up in the cross fire of one of her so called dangerous pranks she usually tossed herself in the way of it before it could hit Bird and it wasn't just her Annabelle did the same thing, nothing was more funny then watching these two whippets collide several times throughout the course of the week and what was funnier was that Bird was making them do that on purpose proving herself to be the smartest one in the competition of wits and she was working through her emotional trauma problems by doing this.

Annabelle had been busy learning all the stuff she's been missing that went to Belladonna when they split, whereas Belladonna was doing the same with Annabelle, now they were still radically equal with minor exceptions that Belladonna picked up minor sorcery ability, luckily she couldn't summon imps much to Charlie and Itchy's relief as they had a lot of trouble keeping the two girls from ripping into each other with as Charlie put it 'Necro-munchy stuff' despite it looking cool and everything.

Annabelle being the opposite end of the spectrum managed to use healing glamour but she mostly attributed it to her angelic nature, but through and through both of the Donna's stuck almost religiously to Necromancy, Bird was usually off to the side watching Belle and Anna practice and get back into shape while she worked on a few odd things and once Sasha could have sworn she saw Bird head into a junkyard to rifle around for parts.

No one knew what Bird was going to do next, as her reason for being here was gone which was Annabelle's necklace, even Annabelle began to wonder what Bird was working on but it was nothing of ill intent which brought up the entire Dragon Heart Whistle thing again causing them to get into a argument that somehow devolved into which dog food that tasted best, Annabelle eventually won out but it was unclear why and Belladonna said she would never live it down.

Sasha was curious as what was going on between the three, Annabelle didn't seem all to interested in Charlie anymore except for missions and seemed to have a lot of free time from her job apparently, Belladonna was still causing mischief but it was nowhere near as bad as before except Charlie kept being targeted as Belladonna still had a vendetta against him if the entire glue, pillows and flypaper thing wasn't a hint and Bird who actually could express herself somewhat was all over the place at random times, it's like she never slept at all and she was even worse than Belladonna and no one would believe Sasha that some of the things that happened were actually set up by Bird herself and that the things were horribly elaborate was something to think about as it always made Belladonna seem like the one who did it.

For most of it Sasha was rather glad that she had Charlie, she just wished he wasn't as stupid as Belladonna claimed him to be, but then again his roguish charm never wore off and he was still a sly thinker and otherwise didn't really care that Annabelle was interested in him at one point, she was the one that encouraged their relationship in the first place after it became obvious that she didn't have Charlie's attention at any given time except what he needed to hear for his job.

Itchy still had some problems believing that both Donna's were once a single dog with how different they turned out, but they all accepted the fact or had to after it was made clear by both of them that they had labeled the other as a cousins for a reason, then there was the entire four paths thing that he got from Annabelle in more detail when he asked, apparently he was weak in spirit, had great heart, a good mind and his body was moderate, but he wasn't able to do anything with it like Charlie.

Annabelle mentioned that Charlie was spirited enough to perform Necromancy and still hasn't told him that he has powers beyond his own understanding, she said he wasn't ready to handle that kind of responsibility not that he had the mind for it and with that odd statement Annabelle had wandered off mentioning Loki and Puck probably having a field day with him making Itchy remember what he was told when he asked what the end result of a reapers fight was.

It wasn't something that Itchy would repeat and Annabelle only told him because he was mature enough to handle the truth, which is why she hasn't told Charlie or Sasha what actually became of Red, not that they'd want to know if it was true.

Now it was on the day of question whether or not Belladonna was ready to travel once again considering she dumped having underworld powers as part of her job and was lazy with what she used to be capable of normally she had been pushing it all week between everything she did.

They were all far away from San Francisco for a bit in the country side which would have been a relaxing view if it wasn't for the ex-dark angel and an actual angel about to knock heads, Itchy, Charlie and Sasha in the grand scheme of all this weren't very important, they were just there and were told they'd catch a ride back with Annabelle as Belladonna was going to be riding in Birds transportation to their next destination as Bird has had all week to plan out something.

They just stood there waiting for what Bird had to say or show them as she stood apart from the group and she had a very particular smile playing across her beak, not to mention she walked over to a specific patch of ground that looked to have been dug up and slowly moved the dirt away, before pulling out a purple package and a pink ribbon wrapped around it.

"Huh, why would you hide a present out here Bird" Annabelle asked wondering who it was for when Bird shoved it in Belladonna's direction, before giving Annabelle a conspiratorial wink "For me, you shouldn't have, but if you shouldn't and didn't I wouldn't know about it to be sad if… what is it?"

Bird didn't answer and just leaned against Annabelle lazily who got a message through their contact which caused Annabelle to have a discreet smile forming on her face, of course Annabelle could understand why Bird would get something like that and the sentimental value was going to be pretty good as much as Belladonna's reaction which is why Annabelle was being slipped a disposable camera when no one was watching by Bird, the fact that she could build one was not lost on the other dogs when they finally saw it.

Belladonna hardly ever been given anything other than information by anyone after her schism with Annabelle, but a present from Bird was something she wasn't expecting she carefully pulled the ribbon and pulled the top of the box off and saw what was inside, her face went into shock and that was when a camera flash interrupted her shock.

"I'll get you a copy of it" She looked towards Annabelle; who had spoken out loud to Bird, with her eyes glowing a solid if angry blue, noticing the angel had a cheeky smirk and something else before she slowly blinked her eyes back to normal and slowly put the lid back on the box and hauled it off behind a tree looking around conspiratorially.

"What was that all about" Charlie asked only to get a chuckle from Annabelle that would have been close to something you'd expect from Belladonna "Oh nothing, but I believe Belladonna just been given something of a shock with her present wouldn't you say Bird"

Bird would have chuckled or burst out laughing, but she just smirked amused by the display of Belladonna's surprise, when the purple whippet came from behind the tree looking flushed for all to see before she walked up to Bird and Annabelle, something was odd about how flushed Belladonna looked but only Bird and Anna knew why.

"Bird ask me next time before you decided to steal something from me though I won't argue with you about it this time and Annabelle I'm guessing you had a part in this" Annabelle's snicker was definitely reminiscent of Belladonna's causing her to glare while the angel dog calmed down to respond "Oh I just used the camera she handed me, but Bird did tell me what she got for you".

"You know you didn't have to use the camera right… but in any case I'm going to kick your fucking ass sister" Well Belladonna just said it, in a way that they were a lot closer than they used to be, causing Annabelle to feel warm with happiness unfortunately it was drowned out by the fact that Belladonna was now pissed off at her but a little revenge never hurt… 'Or did it' Annabelle thought suddenly realizing she gave Belladonna a reason to beat the tar out of her.

Annabelle wasn't going to blame Bird for this, but she sure was going to say that she planned it and even Belladonna knows it but she was going to target her dear pink furred sister, oh what has the world come to when you can't get a little blackmail on your other half, but then again this was bound to happen as they were going to fight anyway.

Belladonna lunged forward and spat a shockwave from her mouth causing Annabelle to dodge out of the way and retaliate by forming a bow and arrow, which she launched immediately and Belladonna stomped the ground with her front to legs and a blue triangular wall projected out of Belladonna splitting the arrow three ways and cracking her wall.

Belladonna withdrew the energy into herself before she lunged forward again closer then the last time she lunged and pulled back her front right paw before swinging it forward creating a sword out of energy that Annabelle ducked under and around a tree, leaving a huge gash in the wood from Belladonna's blow which Bird calmly walked over too in between the two dogs firing at each other and forming weapons on a moment's notice to attack each other or defend themselves.

When Bird reached the tree she set a wing against it and with a pulse of green energy the tree healed and Bird walked back by Belladonna who back flipped over Bird and Annabelle skidded to a stop nearly slamming into her while giving chase to Belle, who took the opportunity to shoot through the air as a spinning purple ball of fur that was glowing blue causing Anna some shock as she barely avoided getting hurt leaving only a few light scratches on her side as Belladonna's body plowed across the ground before she stopped spinning and turned around forming a lance that was familiar to the people watching this exhibition of power.

It wasn't exactly the same kind of lance that Red was speared on, but they were still worried until Annabelle broke the lance by forming a shield that was five inches thick in front of her that took the brunt of the lance as it was stabbed toward her and shattered trying to pierce the protective wall of energy.

Belladonna then left Annabelle confused when she stopped and smiled before she lifted her front right leg and bit down on it paw side up close to her wrist, Annabelle's eyes widened but she couldn't get away in time when Belle slung her blood out to the ground and a black sphere with a swirling crimson red color popped up and sent tendrils out to incapacitate Annabelle holding her down in the grass in a standing position.

"You just had to figure out how to do that again didn't you Belladonna and the spin dash lunge we learned when…" Annabelle said dryly as Belladonna had a cheeky smirk on her face "Right you are, though remembering how to move my blood to perform the blood bind took some time and yeah I remembered the spin dash lunge, but that's not all I can also do this".

The spin dash lunge was learned when they were still Anna Belle Donna with Bird's help since being a four legged animal they couldn't do a normal running spin dash, requiring one to build up speed then tumble into a tight roll along the ground, apparently a spin dash was a good move for a spirit user but it was learned later after they returned from dimension X having caused a huge mess of things on that planet, it wasn't as useful for users of heart or mind but Bird managed to do it with a combination of the two creating a sharp feathered buzzing saw of death but it bled off energy like nobody's business and it was unlikely that bird would ever use it in a fight because it wasted to much energy.

On the bright side it was entirely useful for body and spirit users as it didn't use as much energy for them as it did for any other path of energy as all they had to do was provide rotation and hold their energy close to their bodies, as for path of the body this had to be a naturally occuring ability thus using no energy to hardly any at all. (Not very plot relevant then and just for filler dude)

Now Belladonna was projecting her spirit and slapped Annabelle with a sharp crack from the paw shaped end of her extended spirit whip, which looked like she just waved her paw in the air and Annabelle suddenly had a red mark on the side of her face in the shape of Belle's paw, causing her to wince as the blood binding was still holding her down and it would evaporate in the next ten seconds or so.

Annabelle wasn't entirely defenseless and that had certainly hurt, she focused and little orbs of energy started to float out of her body and Belladonna paled a bit when she saw this she back up towards a nearby tree, spirit energy had a problem being used as a projectile because the energy tended to cling to the user and only those with enough focus can pull something like this which Belladonna had a talent for and apparently Annabelle had learned to do it again.

"Don't forget you taught me to remember one of our favorite attacks Belle" Suddenly the spheres streaked forward leaving a trail like a comet homing in on and slamming straight through belladonna only for her to evaporate seconds after, causing Annabelle's eyes to narrow as the blood bind released her as the blood ran out.

"Alright I give where are you, it's been a while since I've seen that trick" Belladonna chuckled lightly and Annabelle froze because she could feel where the other dog was and that was right behind her "Yeah it does help to be able to leave behind optical illusion's of myself, that enough for you Bird" Belle was understating the ability to create illusions, she could probably even make a dancing frog seem real at this point.

Bird just nodded Belladonna was back up to speed in a week, but she was still out of shape even with the way she looked, they'd work on that as Annabelle did say she would practice on her own time when she wasn't on the job and Belladonna would be spending time with her so she was going to be busy coaching Belle back to full strength while on the move.

"So I guess this means you're both ready to go now huh?" Annabelle said with a deep pit of sadness in her tone with her drooping wings appearing behind her only for some feathers to carefully go under her chin and a message to pop into her mind via Bird causing Annabelle to blush.

"Um.. I … er… ulp… uh.." Annabelle had lost her focus and Belladonna walked up and slapped the other side of her face leaving a second red paw mark there "Spit it out sister or I'm just going to ask what she wants and tell her for you".

"Okay, yes… it's what I actually wanted to ask you... you just beat me too it" At Belladonna's questioning look Bird smiled and Annabelle spoke up with that smile "Bird just asked me if I wanted to spend a day with her as I won't be seeing her for a while and well, I really want to".

Belladonna didn't get angry, she just pats Annabelle on the back with a grin telling her "Make it one of the best days you ever had, I won't interfere… this time at least".

(it was a day to remember)

At the end of the next day everyone including Sasha, Charlie and Itchy were introduced to Terra Ground the intelligent intergalactic and dimensional traversing toad made spaceship and Bird gave Belladonna their next destination to help find the rest of her through the use of an omniscient oracle only found in one place… but it requires going through New York City to reach her.

"Well it's been fun Anna, but me and Bird have to find the rest of her, thanks for the help with the food and water" Annabelle smiled and hugged Belladonna, they both gave each other a pat on the back and then went their separate ways when Belladonna went to get into Terra, who she called Froggy.

"Will you just let me in this time, without any trouble" Terra responded by trying to takeoff and Belladonna grabbed the leg and brought the entire machine to the ground before it could get too high and Bird was just standing off to the side smiling slightly, Terra and Donna definitely do not get along, but who was she to force the spirited machine to accept Belladonna, but one way or another Terra would have to accept her because she wasn't going anywhere without her traveling companion… well at least what was half of what used to be her traveling companion.

Yesterday had been fun but without physical sensations it was missing so much like smelling the flowers and without her spirit she was going to need someone to be her voice or she would be forever stuck using physical contact telepathy which was much more easier now than it used to be with her emotions finally in check after she came to terms with it with a little help, when she focused back on reality Terra was asking why they couldn't take the pink whippet creature along and Donnie was complaining that Terra had to let her come because Bird said so, this was going to be a headache waiting to happen though she found it kind of funny and was feeling a lot better after that almost literal heart to heart with Annabelle.

End Story Dude.

At this point the series will really kick off and the crossovers will start getting more complex, there is still the mysterious circumstance that led Bird to being how she is right now, the oracle she's going to meet and how things will turn out will she restore herself to normal with a unknown amount of obstacles in her way dude.

Charlie, Sasha and Itchy are background characters who overall won't mean much to the overall story dude.

Next is 'Date' that shows the day that Annabelle and Bird spent together, then the story will continue on to a different series again, have fun guessing what that is dude.


End file.
